Just Like Jessie
by Aaron Ledgers
Summary: Jessie has always been a part of Team Rocket: yes, she tends to be a drama queen, and yes, her hair IS shaped like a whip, and yes... she has a diabolical temper... but despite that, James and Meowth have always been there for her. When a Mewtwo erases her memories, however, terrible secrets about her past are revealed. Will Jessie ever remember? Or will her past go up in flames?
1. Prologue: Final Failure

**Prologue: Another Pikachu Scheme Gone Wrong**

Pain... when had that become such a familiar sensation?

She had always lived with it... that, and anger as well, but this was pain of a different sort. She'd always told herself after being defeated that the pain would only make her stronger than ever, but now the only thing she could focus on was how much this latest backfired plan had hurt her. The fact that it had also hurt the only two friends she'd ever had only added unneeded bitterness to the anger and hatred she was always feeling.

She had been weak... again.

She had failed the boss... she had failed as a Pokemon trainer... she had failed Meowth...

James...

Jessie slowly crawled backwards and pressed herself against the cliff wall, nursing her injured shoulder with shadowed blue eyes: she was too proud and haughty to allow her friends to see how close she was to breaking down. They had been so close this latest time! So close to capturing Pikachu! It had almost been worth it... but they'd failed, and when they had to report to the boss, their punishment would not be a pleasant one.

After all, Team Rocket had been told that he would personally come to dish it out if they failed again.

James was already awake and sulking with his tail between his legs, and Meowth, as always, was grumbling and clawing at the dirt in frustration. Their latest blast-off had been pretty harsh compared to the rest... since Team Rocket had lost their rights to wielding Pokemon, the Ketch'um brat had been particularly cruel: instead of simply shocking them with Pikachu's powerful thunderbolt attack... he, Dawn, and Brock had combined their strongest Pokemon's attacks just because they couldn't fight back for once.

As always, the trio had ended up somewhere nobody would ever look for them.

"Stupid Pikachu!" Meowth snapped in his usual nasally tone, finally sitting down and rubbing his face with a paw. "If only he weren't so tough! We'll have to come up with a bigger and better plan next time! How about we make another digging robot and snatch them when they least expect it?"

"Oh, but we've already tried that type of plan so many times," James groaned, flapping a lazy hand before wiping a smudge of dirt off his face and smoothing his shoulder-length sky-blue hair with a sigh. "We'll have to come up with a new one... that little brat always seems to expect certain things, so we'll just have to think of something better than ever before."

"You're forgetting that we've used up all our funds," Jessie muttered, sourly pulling a purse out of her pocket and tipping it upside down; James and Meowth stared at it mournfully before lowering the heads with a sigh. "All of our funds come from the Boss... we can't do anything unless we think of a solution or capture Pikachu. Because of our last failure, he stripped us of the Pokemon we were lent..."

She fell silent with a shudder and hugged her knee with one arm, not even realizing that James's hairspray had faded a little. The man's eyes instantly widened and he gasped before pulling a mini compact mirror out of his pocket. The woman's sharp eyes flicked to look at him when he pulled a comb out of his pocket and he started fawning through her perfectly sculpted hair: he'd always been like this, during all the years she'd known him.

"Oh, Jessie," he sighed, smoothing her dyed crimson tresses and patting them down. "Your hair is so long I can make anything out of it."

"Yeah," Meowth sniggered, giving her odd spiral an amused look. "Not like it matters, though: the head it's attached to isn't very pretty!"

In a flash, Jessie got up and attempted to smack him upside the head, but in the process she strained her injured shoulder and winced with a hiss.

"Are you all right?" James asked, touching her uninjured arm when the redhead started shaking. "Are you hurting anywhere?"

"Just shut up!" the woman snapped, shooting him a glare. "I'm fine!"

"If you say so," James sighed, looking highly relieved. "I wonder when the boss will show up."

"Probably any moment now," Jessie muttered, shaking her head in dismay. "He has eyes everywhere... he probably already knows we failed, so all that's left is to wait for him to show up and tell us what our punishment will be. At worst, he could demote us, I guess... then again, we're already at the end of our rope and we can't go down any farther. I hate those petulant brats... we really messed up good this time."

"Do you think he'll fire us?" James asked, sounding oddly calm about the situation. "If that's the case, I'll probably have to go back home... we might as well start thinking about things like that. I can't stand the thought of giving up, but... if he fires us, I'll have no choice."

"I'll go wherever you two go," Meowth sneered, closing his eyes with a catty smile. "We're in this t'gether, ain't we?"

"Where will you go, Jessie?" James asked, glancing at her with curious eyes; the woman's painted lips were pressed into a thin line and her blue eyes were shadowed, but not long after she buried her chin in her knees and turned her face away from his gaze. "Jessie?"

"I don't know," she grunted, making the two males roll their eyes. "Why should I bother with such a stupid question?"

"Typical," Meowth sighed, giving her a snarky attitude. "Y'know, lately it seems as though you ain't really wit' th' program, Jessie."

Around that moment, a helicopter appeared over the edge of the mountain and made the trio look up: a huge red 'R' had been painted along the side of it, making all three of them wince. When it landed, their Boss slid open the doors of the aircraft and stepped out, orange tuxedo glinting in the moonlight and jet black hair reflecting everything with an oily sheen. His Persian had curled around his shoulders and was now looking at Team Rocket with gleeful red eyes. Jessie and James instantly stood up and respectfully gave a salute, but he merely looked at them... judging them... taking in their appearances.

After a moment, he held his jeweled cane in front of him and rapped the ground with it.

Almost immediately, a beautiful blonde girl with a great figure and shoulder-length hair jumped out of the jet, holding a black rose between her fingers and wearing a black version of their uniform. Following her were two Rocket soldiers in black: their faces were shadowed, but when the blonde girl glanced at their boss, he nodded before watching the spectacle unfold. Jessie narrowed her eyes in distaste when the blonde girl grinned and skipped over to them.

"Domino?!" James scoffed, eyes widening in total surprise; Meowth instantly hissed and growled at her. "What are you doing here?"

Instead of answering, the blonde girl shoved Jessie aside: the redhead lost her balance and fell on top of Meowth, who clawed her in an attempt to get free.

However, both of them watched as the girl walked her fingers up his chest, making the man's dyed blue hair stick out in almost every direction from the shock.

"What are you talking about, silly?" Domino practically purred, sticking the black rose between his teeth. "This is yours now... because today onward, I'm your new partner!"

Jessie, James, and Meowth all blinked in rapid synchronicity before sharing a confused glance with each other.

However, when their boss's eyes narrowed and he rapped his cane again, the two men standing on either side of the blonde bolted forward and grabbed Jessie's shoulders with rough movements. The woman's eyes widened and she instantly struggled, not comprehending what was happening to her.

"Hey! Let go of me!" she snapped, fighting to get free. "What the heck are you doing?! Unhand me this instant!"

"I'm afraid they can't do that, you creepy old _hag,"_ Domino cheekily retorted, gripping James's arm with a crushing grip when he tried to step forward. "I'm taking your place from now on under the boss's orders. Apparently, he thinks it's time to punish you three in a way that will hurt you personally."

"No way!" Meowth snarled, folding his arms with a snooty attitude. "I won't accept anyone but Jessie!"

"Same here!" James stammered, eyes wide with shocked outrage. "I'll quit!"

"Don't," Jessie barked, glancing at him over her shoulder as she was dragged away; her friends blinked when they saw her eyes. "Don't quit: I'll make sure I become a better Rocket member so he'll let me come back, okay? This is nothing! I'll come back quicker than you can blink!"

"I'm afraid that won't ever happen, Jessica," Giovani himself sneered, stepping forward and clasping her slender jaw; Jessie's eyes widened in alarm when he brought his face close to her own, almost seeming to be glaring directly down into her soul. "Your punishment will be permanent... and this, I'm afraid, is only the beginning of it. I hope what is about to come teaches you a lesson... if, that is, you ever remember it once we're through. Now... let's head back to the Kanto region."

With that, the men dragged her onto the jet, and the Boss of Team Rocket climbed in. Jessie pressed a hand against the window with large eyes, watching as James and Meowth tried to charge it... but then, they were taking off... and the redhead's eyes were soon no longer visible. James and Meowth both shivered violently when Domino let out an angry sigh and looked around, blue eyes going from cute to cold: she looked as though she were severely pissed off.

"Well, at least I don't have to be partnered up with that ugly old hag," she muttered, folding her arms. "Let's get going: we're heading to the nearest town, and you boys are paying for the rooms we're renting."

"We're penniless, though," James whined, glancing at Meowth in horror. "We don't have a single dime!"

"Steal some money, then," Domino sneered, glaring at them in a way that made both males shudder. "Are you Rockets or not?"

It was official: this latest development was going to be hell on earth.


	2. Chapter 1: The Battle With MewTwo

**Author's fore-warning: sad, sad chapter... read with caution.**

* * *

**Chapter One: The Battle With MewTwo**

Jessie was pissed.

Beyond pissed.

So pissed that she wanted to strangle someone.

Her face was redder than her hair and steam should have been shooting out of her ears. Giovanni was sitting across from her, looking out the window and completely ignoring the fact that his underlings hadn't removed their hands from her arms. Normally she wouldn't have really cared, since she was extremely tough for a nineteen-year-old girl... but even with her combat training, her shoulder was killing her and they were treating her like a convict.

"Is this really necessary?" the redhead carefully demanded, trying to keep her voice even despite her twitching eyelid; she shuddered and averted her eyes when Giovanni's gaze flicked to her face for a moment... even now, she hated the fact that this man terrified her so much. There was a reason for that, too, since he used people's darkest fears to control them. "They're... _hurting_ me, Boss."

"Good," Giovanni sneered, making a vein pop out in her forehead. "Get used to it: you'll be in for a lot worse once we get back to base."

"For what?!" Jessica finally snapped, turning a somewhat mixed glare on him: she looked equal parts outraged, fearful, and angry. "I think I missed the memo, so what, exactly, did I do to deserve this kind of treatment?! Boss, what did I do?!"

"Your plan was the one that failed this time," Giovanni sneered, making her frown in confusion. "That is all you did. Now you will take responsibility."

"And what does that mean?" Jessie sullenly demanded, lips pulling into a sneer. "Take responsibility? For what?"

"For failing in a three-year attempt to kidnap a little boy's Pikachu," the Leader of the Rockets retorted, eying the scenery as they swept over the ocean that divided the Jhoto region from the Kanto region. "You've been at it for years now, and you haven't managed it once. Pathetic."

"Well excuse me for losing battles against a Pokemon that had us outmatched from the get-go," Jessica tartly retorted, wincing when Giovanni glanced at her with a sharp expression; the two men sitting on either side of her tightened their grips so much that she actually winced and her face contorted a bit. She grunted, squeezing one eye shut with gritted teeth. "Ow! OW! Enough already! Unhand me, you rancid brutes!"

She was so busy struggling that she didn't ever realize that the helicopter was landing until the door flew open.

"Take her to battlefield seventy-nine with subject 150-A," Giovanni rapped out, watching as the red-haired woman was dragged out of the chopper and pulled across the concrete; her white knee-high boots dragged across the ground as she was pulled, struggling, underground and straight into an enormous facility with Pokemon of all sorts locked in cages. "I want her to be broadcasted to all of the Teams across the world."

"Broadcasted?!" Jessie spat, struggling to glare over her shoulders just before he vanished. "What is that supposed to mean? Boss! Hey! BOSS!"

He didn't answer.

Jessie grit her teeth and let out a snarl of frustration when someone dragged a blindfold over her head, kicking her legs and trying to get free.

Then she felt an excruciating jerk that made her chest and shoulders scream in agony. Jessie actually shrieked for the first time in her life, eyes flying open wide and mouth dropping open as she was roughly dragged forward and thrust into an area she couldn't see. She landed heavily on the ground and wheezed, muscles smarting horribly. For several moments, her arms hurt too much to even take the blind fold off.

Then she slowly lifted her hand and ripped it away from her face, breathing hard.

The woman was prepared to do some bitching about whatever might be happening, but confusion overwhelmed her when she realized where she was standing. It was dark, so she couldn't really see very much... but if she wasn't mistaken about the shape, this was a Pokemon stadium. She blinked several times before standing up and irritably dusting herself off: the guards had shut the door behind her, so she couldn't get out.

"Hey!" Jessie shouted, eyebrows drawn back and painted lips taught with fury. "If anyone's in here, you'd better not try anything funny!"

"Silence!" Giovanni's brutish voice roared, making the redhead flinch; but then, more quietly and seething with malice, she heard, "be silent while you can, woman: don't shame yourself any further. If you put up a good fight, you might just earn your freedom at the very least."

"Huh?!" Jessie screeched, face contorted in outrage. "You're joking! What the heck is going on here, Boss?!"

"Let it be known that Team Rocket is the most ruthless crime syndicate in the world!" the man thundered, voice resonating throughout the room and making the woman shake with rage. "We will not hesitate or tolerate failure, even amongst our own. For those of you who had your television programs cut off for this, enjoy this live spectacle: this woman will be our example! So, let the match... begin!"

Jessie gasped and stumbled backwards when the stadium was suddenly lit up almost blindingly, covering her eyes.

After blinking the spots away, she lowered her glove-clad arms and looked around in confusion only to spot something and freeze.

Standing on the other end of the battlefield was a Mewtwo wearing enhanced psychokinetic armor.

"W-w-what's going on here?" Jessie stammered, smiling nervously at all of the cameras that had been stretched out along the room. "S-seriously, Boss, this isn't even funny anymore! What the heck has gotten into you?! Please, just tell me what I'm supposed to do!"

"Mewtwo," Giovanni stated coldly, making the woman's face go pale in shock; she instantly glanced at the Pokemon to see it turning its head ever so slightly, but the sight made her stomach go bone cold. "That woman is your opponent... as of now, she is on the same level as any other Pokemon, so do not hold back on your attacks. Fight her... just I trained you to. Mewtwo... go!"

Like the snap of a whip, the Psychic Pokemon lifted into the air and flew towards the redhead at warp speed.

Jessie's pupils became enormous and she leapt out of the way with a yelp, landing heavily on her side; however, she gasped when she was suddenly lifted into the air, flailing her arms in terror. Then the Pokemon was charging at her again, and her eyes widened only a split second before it slammed into her gut and smashed her against the stadium walls. She immediately heaved, mouth flying open as the Mewtwo flew back a few feet, seeming to be waiting for her attack.

However, Jessie merely sank to her knees and pressed her head to the ground, clutching her stomach and trying to breathe.

"Y-you bastard!" the redhead hissed, struggling to sit up and get back to her feet. "That... hurt!"

"Is that all you have, Jessica?" Giovanni asked, purposely keeping his face hidden from the cameras; he also had his voice concealer on again, the same way he used to in the old days. "I never realized you were this pathetic... how on earth did you ever make it into Team Rocket?"

"My name is JESSIE!" the woman screeched, stumbling to her feet and charging at the Mewtwo with her fist drawn back; she let out a war cry and tried to deck the Pokemon in the face, but all of a sudden... it wasn't there. Her eyes widened and she stumbled, losing her balance... but then there was a harsh blow from behind and she went flying onto her stomach. "OW! Dammit! How can I beat a Pokemon that can teleport?!"

"Haven't you understood it?" Giovanni snickered, making the woman scowl in anger. "You're not going to beat him. He will destroy you."

"What?!" Jessie shouted, looking up at the man with enraged eyes. "Give me a break! Thieves or not, Team Rocket has a code of honor: this is so far below the expectations of what it means to be a Rocket that I can't believe what I'm hearing!"

"Crime is crime," the Boss snickered coldly, making the woman's heart freeze. "There is no honor among thieves. That's why you and your pathetic friends were always losing to a measly little boy's Pikachu: you never fought dirty, Jessica... none of you did. It's time for you to learn how to be a Rocket,"

Jessie's eyes went wide when Mewtwo was suddenly in front of her: she practically squeaked like a little girl when it clutched her entire face with one hand.

"Mewtwo," Giovanni stated with a chuckle. "Look into her mind and see what makes this pathetic Caterpie tick."

"NO!" Jessie screeched, kicking her legs when the Pokemon turned to face her; she couldn't see its eyes, which only made it worse. "DON'T DO IT!"

"Now, Mewtwo," the man called, making the Pokemon look back and forth between them. "Look at her mind... piece by piece..."

"NOOOOOOO!" Jessie wailed, eyes squeezing shut as everything she'd gone through exploded to the front of her mind from the ground up. "NOOO!"

Then her awareness dissolved into glittering sparkles that rained down on her from the sky.

Jessie slowly tilted her head back with vacant blue eyes, staring emptily at the beautifully clear lights that had started raining around her like shimmering tears. Then her sculpted hair slid out of its hair-sprayed confines and billowed around her torso, exploding all the way down to the back of her calves. She felt herself falling out of her body and down into darkness... yes, she was falling... falling into memories she didn't want to remember and memories she had tried to forget.

Unknown to her, the Mewtwo was falling as well: the Pokemon was descending through a darkness so deep that no light could ever touch it. These shadows were full of pain... a pain that had been etched so deep into Jessie's subconscious that no amount of love could ever heal it.

Out of nowhere, a hauntingly beautiful melody began to echo around the Pokemon's mind.

It was stunned to realize that the music was nothing but manifestations of the redhead's emotions.

The Pokemon's tail flicked around and its teal eyes flitted from place to place as several voices began to float around it... voices full of cruelty and anger.

When the Pokemon tentatively stretched out a paw to find out where it was, what it got instead was a roaring waterfall of images that were full of life and sound. There were millions of them: millions of painful memories, acts of unspeakable torment that no child should have ever endured. Not even the ripping torture that Mewtwo itself had gone through during the training sessions could compare with this agony... because unlike its injuries, both physical and not, these had been inflicted on a girl who'd loved the people who were hurting her so badly.

She'd loved them, did everything she could to be accepted, and in the end... she was trash.

Filth.

Nothing...

She was alone in the dark... alone, unloved, harassed... shattering like a mirror in the face of the world's hate.

She must become empty... she couldn't break... she must become a living doll in order to endure the pain... a living doll... but there was no escaping.

The darkness never faded: it merely filled the emptiness she created, eating at her heart from the inside.

It turned her bitter... spoiled, angry, full of hate... she wanted to loathe the world instead of love it.

She wanted to return the feelings of suffering that had been inflicted upon her... wanted to make the sensation mutual.

"Please... no..." Jessie whimpered, body dangling limply in the Pokemon's grasp; Giovanni smirked when tears started streaming down Jessie's face, but then his eyes went blank because a similar trickle was starting to leak from the inside of the Pokemon's helmet. "Please... don't leave me alone... don't leave me... I'll be a good girl, so please... don't... don't abandon me... you promised we'd do everything together, so you can't..."

"Mewtwo! Finish her!" Giovanni barked, leaning forward with a disturbed expression. "Jessica, how's it feel being violated like this?"

There was no response from either of them.

Mewtwo was seeing images and hearing hundreds of cruel voices that blurred and distorted as it fell... these memories were too painful for a soul like his.

They were too lonely... too full of an endless darkness that he couldn't seem to escape from...

_His vision shifted and he saw a young Kanto girl with pixie-like hair dragging a terrified redheaded child through the snow, running past several stones and heading clean into an empty factory building. The two of them made their way into the back of the decimated factory, where they huddled down together and shivered. The redheaded girl began wailing hysterically despite the Kanto girl's angry expression: she merely sat and stared at the wall with furious brown eyes._

_ She honestly looked as though she wanted to kill someone. _

_"I'm going back home to my Mommy!" the redhead suddenly shouted, stumbling to her feet. "If I be good, she might love me! I can't give up on her! She might love me if I only try harder, so I can't run away! She even made me her favorite snowgasboard today!"_

_"You can't go back to that horrible church, Jessica!" the Kanto girl angrily shouted, clinging to her friend's hand and tugging gently; stray strands of her black hair shone like a mirror as it spilled from underneath her poke-beanie, and tears filled her sparkling brown eyes when the young redhead tried to get up and bolt again. "Jessie, you don't get it! You can't go back! She isn't good for you! I heard Father Pedro say it himself: you're only money to her!"_

_"It's not true!" the redhead wailed, flinging her shoulder-length hair around and burying her face in her knees. "It's just not true! She took me in and gave me a home! She has to love me! I want her to care about me, so maybe if I try hard, she'll see how much I love her! Maybe... maybe she'll love me then, too! I have to try! She might love me, Kiki, please?!"_

_"She's not a good person!" Kiki cried, clinging to her best friend's arms when she began to cry. "I saw it! Father Pedro said himself that your foster mother would rather have taken in a rattata that poops everywhere than someone like you! It made me so mad that I decided to take you to a place where people will love you forever!"_

_"No! No, no, no!" Jessie whined, falling to her knees as she burst into discordant sobs. "Am I a bad girl? Why does Mommy want a messy rattata instead of me?! I'm not a bad girl, right? She always says I'm ugly, so is that why?! Am I really ugly?!"_

_"No… you're not ugly... you're the prettiest girl in town," Kiki stammered, sounding as though she were going to cry. "You're very pretty... okay?"_

_"Then why does my Mommy hate me?" Jessie sobbed, shivering as she cried. "I... I just want someone to love me..."_

_"I will, then!" Kiki stated boldly, getting to her feet and stomping the ground. "I'll always love you! I promise! In fact, since I'm a year older than you and I've got a bra, I'll be your big sister from now on! Will you stay with me from now on? Forever and ever?"_

_"Really...?" Jessie sniffled, lifting her head and bursting into tears when her best friend laughed. "I love you, Kiki! You're the bestest friend ever!"  
_

_And without another word, the little girl tackled her friend to the ground and clung to her._

_"Whoa, what are you doing?" Kikira squawked, blinking rapidly in surprise when the younger clung to her shirt with shaking limbs. "Jessie?"  
_

_"Do you promise?" the girl whimpered, hiccuping as she clung to her only friend. "Do you promise you won't leave me all alone in the dark?"_

_"Really! I promise that won't leave you alone anywhere, not even in the light!" __Kiki happily confirmed, kissing the girl on the cheek before pulling away with a laugh. _"We'll run away together and you can be my new little sister from now on! I promise I'll always be there to love you! We just have to wait for this storm to pass."  


_Before Jessie could respond to that statement, the ceiling groaned and they looked up just before it collapsed under the weight of the snow._

_Kiki instantly shrieked and pushed Jessie out of the way. _

_Then the ceiling hit, and the Kanto girl let out a sound that seemed caught between a wavering gasp and a choked screech. Jessie's indigo eyes went blank with confusion as her new foster sister's body tilted past her: she didn't know what was going on… but she knew it was going to be terrible. _

_The girl turned her head with a vacant expression as Kiki fell heavily on her stomach with her arms slightly spread._

_Kiki was simply lying there on the ground, unblinking and unmoving... with a piece of huge wood sticking through her body. Blood... it was spilling from the hole in the back of her shirt... the hole were she'd been impaled. Her blue eyes began to widen and she slowly opened her mouth, choking with the urge to scream as an unbearable pressure built inside her chest—but for some reason, no sound could escape her lips._

_For several moments, she had been frozen solid._

_Then, shoulders shaking, the ten-year-old little girl finally let out a horrified screech that shook the walls of the building. She frantically lifted her best friend onto her lap and shook her desperately, hands grasping at the elder girl's clothes as she tried to make her wake up._

_"Kiki, don't die! You have to wake up!" Jessie wailed, shaking her body. "Please, wake up! Open your eyes! You promised! You promised you wouldn't ever leave me alone! You said we'd make it through together! You promised, so you can't die! You can't! Help! Help us! Somebody, please, help us!"_

_Jessie stopped screaming when a hand touched her cheek._

_"Don't cry, Jessie," Kiki murmured, smiling even as a thick trickle of blood streamed out of her mouth and stained her teeth. "You're my best friend... you're my sister now, too... you have a home with me, and we're going to have fun, so why are you crying? Mommy and Daddy love you, too: in fact, they said I could run away and help find someone who'd really love you... let's go have dinner with them, okay? They're waiting for us at the table... they said they'll adopt you... if it's... possible..."_

_"K-K-Kiki, don't die," the redhead whined, clutching her best friend's cheeks with both hands. "You can't die! DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE IN THE DARK!"_

_"Oh, crap... it's already time for our music lessons," the Kanto girl babbled, brown eyes glazing over. "If you don't hurry up, we'll be... late... "_

_Jessie's empty blue eyes widened and the tears streaming down her cheeks froze when the girl went limp and stared off into space._

_"Kiki?" Jessie whimpered, shaking her sister with trembling hands. "Kiki? Wake up! Wake up!"_

_However, the girl's doe brown eyes weren't moving and her face had gone completely slack._

_"Kiki!" Jessie wailed, smacking the girl's arms. "KIKI! KIKI! KIKI!"_

_There was no response... no amount of chafing, punching, or smacking had any affect... and when reality came crashing down that her best friend was gone forever, the darkness that filled her was so black that it nearly crushed her. She felt as though she couldn't breathe... as though she were falling beneath an ocean of shadows... the tears streaming down her face continued flowing, but her expression had gone blank. Had stayed blank, even when she was found with frostbite the next day and a sheet had been draped over Kiki's body. Jessie had been taken home by her mother, who had practically disowned her for getting another child killed. _

_However, she was only aware of the darkness that had descended over her mind.  
_

_Kiki was gone... and she was all alone in the dark... again..._

_The place where she'd always been._

_And on that day... her eyes had sharpened with the hatred she'd always been feeling... had gone from being innocent to spiteful._

"MEWTWO!" Giovanni finally roared, making the shaking Pokemon twitch. "FINISH HER! I DON'T CARE HOW YOU DO IT, JUST FINISH HER!"

Jessica was merely staring off into space, eyes soft with pain.

_'Why do you walk the path of darkness?' _the Pokemon telepathically inquired. '_Why do you follow a road full of hate?'_

"Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light," Jessie chuckled humorlessly, responding in an almost robotic voice. "I chose the path of Team Rocket... because James was there. Not a day passes where I've regretted it, either... they'll come for me... I just know it."

_I am Mewtwo,_ the Pokemon snapped, lowering Jessica back to the ground. _My name will be the end of you._

And in an attempt to escape his own suffering, the Pokemon unwittingly erased every single memory that had been locked away inside Jessica's mind.

Seconds later, she collapsed to the ground, unconscious... and the cameras broadcasting the scene shut down.

Then the lights went dark...

And Jessica was taken away.

To where, nobody yet knows... but we'll soon find out.


	3. Chapter 2: Blank Slate

**Chapter Two: Blank Slate**

She opened her eyes with a jolt, but the bright lights overhead made her cringe almost instantly; with a whine, she closed them again and tossed up her hands to block the light. However, the moment she moved, agony rocketed throughout her entire abdomen and she let out a shriek of pain. A few seconds later she heard a door swing open and the curtain slid aside.

"Chansey, go get the doctor right now! The comatose patient in room three just woke up!" a female voice hollered in alarm; a set of hands soon grabbed her shoulders gently. "Easy, honey, just calm down… there's no need to pop the stitches in your back, okay?"

_Stitches?_ she wondered hazily; her head was pounding and her body ached. _What are stitches...?_

"I'll go get the doctor," the soothing voice stammered. "Try to stay calm until I'm back."

"What happened?" she tried to croak, but the woman was gone—leaving her alone. That's when the girl realized that she couldn't remember much of anything at all, even her own name. However, a clean-cut older looking man came into her room before she could go into hysterics: judging by his attire, she guessed that he was the doctor. She watched with bleary indigo eyes as he came up to her bed, but flinched when he removed the oxygen mask from her mouth.

"Jessica Rougette? I'm Dr. Kesslov and this is Nurse Chansey," the doctor greeted warmly, gesturing to himself and the pink Pokemon. "I'm glad that you're finally awake, but I need you tell me something. How are you feeling? Are you hurting anywhere? Can you see all right?"

"I'm f-fine," the girl managed to croak out, finding it difficult for her vocal chords to function properly.

"Wonderful!" the doctor sighed in relief, taking a clipboard the Chansey held out. "There's no sign of any lasting head trauma, and her responses are normal."

"Hey, hold on... w-what did you say my name was again?" she groggily asked, slowly looking around in confusion as she tried to figure out where she was and why she was there. She looked up when the doctor drew back with an extreme look of alarm, and an unpleasant prickle of anxiety stabbed through her chest; the Chansey instantly started a flurry of activity across the room. "W-what's wrong?"

"Okay, I want you to take a few deep breaths and stay calm," the man stated. "This might come as a bit of a shock…"

"What do you mean?" the girl asked, breath slowly coming to a halt; it was then that she realized she couldn't remember anything at _all... _not her life, not her name, not even the knowledge behind the words she was speaking. The heart monitor immediately began to go nuts: she had no memories. "What?! H-hey, who am I?!"

"Just lie down; there's no need to work yourself into a panic right now," the doctor stated firmly, drawing a pen-light from his front pocket and holding a finger up in front of her large blue eyes. "Can you follow my finger, please?"

"Yes," the girl replied, looking at his finger and following it as the light was shined into her eyes.

"You are responding well, and the EKGs showed no brain trauma," the doctor stated, puzzled. "Your memory shouldn't have been affected by the injuries you received in the mystery Pokemon Stadium, so I highly doubt it's a permanent side effect. It's most likely the trauma, which means that your memories could come back at any time, kiddo. You shouldn't feel too worried about losing them."

"What happened to me?" the girl repeated for what felt like the millionth time.

"You were… in an accident," he explained, finally answering her question. "However… it's all over now, so there's nothing to worry about."

"What accident?!" Jessica cried, feeling terrified; she instantly grabbed the doctor's arm with enormous eyes. "How old am I? Where are my parents?! Are they here, too?"

The doctor's hand stilled and he stared at her.

"According to your original birth certificate... you're seventeen, but your _forged_ one says that you're _nineteen,"_ he stated slowly, making the girl blink in confusion; then the doctor somberly lowered his head. "However... you have no parents. We contacted your foster mother's living residence, but we received no answer whatsoever. We're currently trying to inform her of what has happened... but, we haven't had any luck."

The response had her heart racing and bolted upright, wincing when she felt a searing pain in her back.

"Which is it?! Nineteen or Seventeen?!" the girl squeaked, shaking her head in terror. "How old am I?! Who am I?! What's going on?! Mom! Dad! Please, help!"

The doctor tried to push her back down, but she fought him. She heard one of the Chanseys uttering it's name in an urgent manner; the doctor mumbled something under his breath as he took a needle from its hands. Seeing that, she went into an uncontrollable state of panic and had to be sedated so she wouldn't pop her stitches. He gently poked her shoulder and she slumped backward, feeling numb and tingly.

Several hours passed with her body feeling this way.

Jessica lay staring at the ceiling, calf-length crimson hair splayed out around her shoulders as silent tears spilled down her cheeks. Her parents were dead, but even worse than that was the fact that she couldn't even remember them. After going through several more tests to figure out the dilemma she was experiencing, she was told by the doctor that she wouldn't be able to force her memories back.

In other words, unless something triggered her mind into remembering who she was, there was no way she could get her old self back.

Her heart throbbed with agony as she lay there, saddled with the burden of having no past and being completely alone. However, when the sun was finally starting to set, there was a knock on the door and she frowned: had somebody other than her family come to see how she was doing?

"Come in?" she croaked out; however, a tall man with short gray hair walked inside, carrying a briefcase in his hands; when he looked at the redhead and saw the state her body was in, he winced and rubbed the back of his neck before frowning apologetically. "Hello... who are you?"

"Miss… Rougette?" he questioned, and Jessica nodded slowly.

"That's me, I think," she replied, eying him nervously. "What can I do for you?"

"My name is Professor Oak. I'm a friend of the woman who offered to take you in this morning," the Poke Professor cautiously explained, watching as Jessica's iridescent blue eyes widened and she sat up a little more. The girl motioned to a chair and he sat down, silently opening his briefcase; however, the look he was giving her made her stomach feel weird. He seemed half-disbelieving and half... afraid? The man cleared his throat and looked at the redhead, who was staring at him with large, curious, and eager blue eyes. "First off, I will be frank with you: after everything you did... I was honestly shocked that Delia offered to take you in."

Professor Oak had lowered his eyes to his paperwork as he said this, waiting for the girl to go off on him. He was already expecting as much since Ash had told him some rather horrific tales about this same woman's temper two years back. However, he paused when nothing happened: the room was so silent that he could have heard a pin drop. After a moment, he cautiously opened his eyes... but his face paled when he saw the look on her face.

Jessica's expression was similar to a baby Pikachu he'd once taken in a long time ago.

A Pikachu that had been kicked clean in the face by its owner for no reason and had then been given to Ash himself only a week later.

"W-why?" Jessica asked, looking devastated and horrified by his statement. "Did I do something wrong? Do people hate me for some reason?"

The man's expression went blank and he dropped his papers to the floor.

"You don't remember?" he squawked, eyes widening when she shook her head. "Oh, my... they said you were having difficulty remembering things, but not like this!"

"What did I do?!" Jessica demanded, jumping into the subject with a frantic expression. "Please! I can't remember anything about who I used to be! Tell me!"

"There's really nothing worth knowing," Professor Oak immediately stammered, flailing his arms with an alarmed expression; then the man carefully began reading the papers in front of him. "Anyway... since you currently have no relatives and the doctors are concerned about you not having any place to stay once you're discharged, we've all made a decision on your behalf. You are going to be placed in the care of a woman named Delia Ketch'um, and starting today, she is your new foster mother."

"Who is Miss Ketch'um?" Jessica asked, feeling extremely confused and overwhelmed. "Is she here? Where does she live?"

"No, she's not here..." the professor promptly replied. "She lives in a place called Pallet Town."

Jessica was suddenly at a loss for words: her mind was screaming in fear and confusion, but she couldn't say a thing… she just looked at her small hands.

"You said that you were... surprised she offered to take me in," the girl hesitantly pointed out; the look in her eyes revealed her vulnerability. "Does she... hate me?"

"Delia is one of the most loving people I've ever met: I highly doubt that she's even capable of feeling hatred," the professor snorted, then stood up turned to leave the room again; however, after a moment he paused... and then he turned around, touching her shaking shoulder. "The point of the matter is that you are only seventeen years old. Until you decide to leave on your own, you won't have any other choice but to follow her rules and get along with her son, Ash. I'll return tomorrow when I've spoken to Delia... we'll come and visit for a while. Just rest until you get better."

Then, without another word, the man turned around and left the room.

A chilling silence followed his departure.

Jessica shook her head, indigo eyes closing tight to lock in all of her tears before they could fall.

"Who am I?" she whispered brokenly.

That was the only thought that filled her heart and mind.

Who was she?

Why did people hate her?

Why did she have two ages?

Who were her parents?

What had she done to make people not want to help her?

Why had she lost her memories?

What had the accident been...?

Millions of questions such as these flooded her mind for hours: by the time they finally ceased, it was starting to get dark. Jessica yawned and slowly sat up, stretching her arms above her head... only to feel the familiar searing pain shoot through her back and chest. She jerked sharply and mewled in agony, folding herself back down with a wince. This pain was horrible: her arm throbbed, her head ached, and the stitches in her back burned and itched feverishly.

Jessica looked out of her window, but judging by the position of the sun in the sky, she figured that it was almost time to fall back asleep. However, after another three hours of trying, she sighed heavily; she would have been much happier if sleep would actually come to her. Every time she drifted off to sleep, she felt something weird plucking at her head and it roused her again.

_Wake up,_ a voice seemed to hiss. _Wake up... wake up._

"My brain isn't working properly..." Jessica muttered, bringing her hands to her face and rubbing her tired eyes before she began to wrack her brain, trying desperately to put all of the pieces together. "Why am I hearing voices? Nobody's in here."

All of a sudden, her mind flashed and she froze.

Suddenly... suddenly, she could see faces, terrified faces—all around she could see the panic and fear.

They were looking right at her... right at her.

Did this mean that _she_ was the source of the fear?

No... she was a good person! She had to be!

They couldn't be afraid of her! Right...?

Before she could snatch the memory, it faded away like smoke and she shivered violently, pulling the covers up to her chin.

The electrocardiograph machine—which had been steadily and rhythmically beeping—began to race feverishly until it was blaring so quickly that it sounded almost like a flat-line.

"_Let me out…_" a voice whispered, coming from everywhere at once. "_You know you want to…_"

"Who's there?!" Jessica squeaked, hands trembling involuntarily as she looked around. "Hello?!"

Nobody answered.

Jessica tried her best to put on a brave front: she choked back her fear the best she could as the voice continued to whisper to her.

Somehow, she got the feeling that she couldn't let her anger overwhelm her… not here… not now.

Not ever.

She lay there until night had descended, watching as the astral sky became ablaze in nocturnal splendor.

The waning moon burned in the sky, bathing the Kanto region in pallid radiance.

The moonlight poured into Jessica's room and cast serpentine shadows on the walls and floor.

Although the night was still and silence prevailed over all else, the girl couldn't find solace; her exhausted body just couldn't convince her crazed mind to rest. Jessica remained motionless, feeling as though she and the bed had fused symbiotically; it had been so long since she'd stirred that she couldn't even remember where she ended and the sheets began. Her exhausted blue eyes darted around the room, taking in every detail of the small, sterile domicile.

The walls, which were painted in a clean, bright white, looked almost charcoal grey in the darkness: the white linoleum floor was pristine, and the glow of the moonlight reflected off of it intensely. The cabinet in the corner of the room, which contained various sorts of medical supplies, stood silently in the darkness.

Jessica brought her hands to her face slowly and rubbed her tired eyes.

Then she took a deep breath and held it, allowing the searing pain to once again make its presence known before slowly releasing it.

The electrocardiograph machine sounded ever so softly every couple of seconds, marking each heartbeat dutifully.

Similarly, Jessica's heart throbbed in unison with the electrocardiograph machine.

"This is so boring," the girl finally whined, wanting nothing more than to go to sleep. "Why am I here? Why won't anyone tell me what happened?"

Feeling twitchy, Jessica folded her hands over the button-up hospital gown she was wearing and sighed heavily. Soothed by the moonlight cascading through her window, the redhead stole a glance at the moon and allowed her mind to drift away. She didn't really think of anything aside from her daydreams about who she used to be.

Perhaps she'd been a woman of high standing? She might have run her own company, or been a lawyer, or maybe even a business woman.

Oh, or maybe she'd been a firefighter or a policewoman, like Officer Jenny!

Wait... who was Officer Jenny?

Jessica frowned and thought hard, unexpectedly getting a flash of a woman with frizzy blue hair and an angry expression looking right at her.

Then the image was gone... and the redhead was left feeling extremely confused.

"Officer Jenny?" she wondered, rolling the words around on her tongue like a piece of candy. "I wonder who that is?"

Feeling despondent, the redhead girl sank back further into the stiff hospital bed: her dyed, calf-length hair was splayed around her body like a glistening crimson pillow. For a moment, she stared blankly at the ceiling tiles; her mind was still racing, still churning on all cylinders... but then she saw something move across the room and gasped in a startled manner: someone was in here with her.

"_You are a fool,_" a sly, angry, and extremely seductive voice purred. "_You never should have lived._"

"Eh?" Jessica whispered, eyes flying open wide: her heart began to race and her stomach tied itself into knots. "W-who are you...?"

However... but it wasn't possible.

This voice didn't seem to be merely reverberating inside her mind, but coming… from inside her room.

Jessica grabbed onto the sidebars of her bed and painstakingly strained to reach an upright position; she looked around her room to see who had spoken, but she didn't see anyone there. The girl remained upright, the wounds on her back burning and stinging as she strained her injured muscles.

"_Don't ask such a stupid question, you tramp,_" the voice whispered. "_Give me back my body!_"

"What are you talking about?!" Jessica hissed, blue eyes flashing with fear. "I-if this is a joke, it's not funny!"

The voice let out a mocking laugh, sending a shiver throughout Jessica's small body: she felt as though that same laugh had once come from her own mouth.

"_I totally agree! It's not funny at all!_" the voice snickered. "_The only joke going on here is that you don't even know who the hell you're talking to!_"

The words of the vixen-like voice resounded throughout the small, moonlit room.

Sweat began to form on Jessica's face as she choked back the lump in her throat. She firmly clenched the metal sidebars of her hospital bed and continued to hold herself upright; pain shot throughout her core since her body wasn't healed. Her large blue eyes flashed around the room as her breathing grew heavier and became more labored. Out of the corner of her eye, the girl saw something stirring in the shadows and quickly turned her head: she stared with dilated pupils for a moment, believing that her eyes were playing tricks on her.

She even raised her right hand to her eyes and rubbed them roughly, believing sleep deprivation to be the culprit.

However, when she opened them again, she could clearly discern a silhouette among the shadows.

There was definitely a shadow standing veiled in the corner of the room... someone with long hair that curled in an odd manner... but who was it?

"_Just because you want me to be a figment of your imagination, it won't ever happen,_" the seductive voice continued. "_After all, I'm the real you..._"

Jessica watched in horror as the shadowy figure began to move forward toward her bedside, emerging from the darkness and taking on a tangible form. The figure's steps were slow… methodical… calculating—so smooth and light that it appeared as though the specter were walking on air. Only a beam of moonlight separated the figure from her bedside... but then... the figure stepped into the moonlight pouring in from the widow, emerging from the darkness.

Jessica's eyes widened in disbelief and she gasped, taken aback by the sight of the doppelganger before her.

The woman looked exactly as she did, with three notable exceptions: piercing blue eyes that had narrowed in a sharp, dangerous manner... tons of poorly-applied makeup that made her look nearly ten years older than she really was... and long crimson hair that had been curled into the shape of a whip. The nefarious shade sashayed towards the side of Jessica's bed, grasping one of the sidebars and propping herself up. She directed her gaze toward the girl, who shuffled back as far as she could in a vain attempt to escape.

"_Quit being such a coward!_" the woman instantly screeched, making Jessica flinch backwards. "_There's no need to get all bent out of shape! I'm not that scary!_"

"Go away…" Jessica whispered, round blue eyes large and body trembling with fear. "Leave me alone!"

The angry woman smiled widely, teeth glowing dimly in the moonlit room: her sharp eyes had narrowed even further, making her look even more dangerous.

"_Why would I want to do that?" s_he slyly assked, shaking her head from side to side—as though to stress her discontentment; the doppelganger continued to lean against the sidebar of the redhead's hospital bed, eyes fixated on her face; almost as though she was sizing her up._ "It's time you got out of my body._"

"Wh-what do y-you want?" Jessica squeaked shrilly, heart pounding nervously inside her chest. "I'm me! This isn't your body!"

"_Yes, it is!_" the woman said evenly, blue eyes burning like sapphires in the darkness. "_I believe I made myself clear: leave my body!_"

"Who are you?!" the girl shrieked, heart palpitating from the fright. "Why do you think this is your body?!"

"_Oh, right,_" the doppelganger nastily chuckled, making the real girl turn pale. "_My name is Jessie. Pleasure to meet you. Now, get out of my body and SCRAM!_"

Something began to rise inside of Jessica: a white-hot flame that began searing the inside of her stomach before coursing through their veins with fervent potency. The girl's hands began to tremble, rattling the sidebars of her bed as the feeling spread: she could feel all of her muscles tensing up, stretching and straining as her adrenaline began to flow freely.

It was pure rage, and it consumed every vestige of her being.

The doppelganger could apparently feel her anger, and she took a step away from Jessica's bedside.

"Shut your mouth, you _creepy_ little _bitch!"_ the redhead hissed, throwing out the words as though she were spitting acid. "I don't owe you anything, so just go away! If what you said is true and you really are me, I don't want you! You're mean! DO YOU HEAR ME?! I DON'T OWE YOU!"

"_So, this is how it's going to be?_" the woman asked plainly, flickering like an old movie. "_You're going to forget everything?_"

"You don't scare me," the girl asserted sharply. "If this is really your body, and I'm you now, that's how it's going to stay since I _am_ you! Er... right?"

Jessie stood dumbfounded when Jessica glared: even now, looking so angry, the real girl's eyes remained soft and innocently round.

She lacked the darkness that had made her who she was.

The doppelganger suddenly cracked like a pane of broken glass and slowly started fading away, never taking her indigo eyes off of the redhead.

Jessica took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment, trying to calm herself down. When she opened them again, her eyes were full of tears and the woman named Jessie was gone; vanished into thin air as though she'd never been present in the first place. The redhead slowly lowered herself down on her back, sighing heavily in relief as her back hit the sheets. She took a few deep breaths, trying to get herself comfortable while choking back the pain.

As she lay amidst the pervading darkness, she began to wonder how the woman had been able to appear before her so vividly.

Before she could ruminate on the subject much further, she was startled by the sound of footsteps approaching from down the hall. They were drawing closer to her room: each step grew a louder than the one which preceded it, until the clattering noise stopped just outside her doorway. The door opened and the florescent overhead lights snapped on, temporarily blinding the girl—whose eyes had not been prepared to make such a radical adjustment to the light.

"Is everything okay in here?" a female voice exclaimed, concern and sincerity present in her tone. "Do you need me to get a doctor? I could hear you shouting all the way down the hall!"

Jessica brought her hands up to her eyes and rubbed them roughly to assuage the shock they had endured. When she slowly opened them, she squinted and blinked until they adjusted to the light. However, she cocked her head when she heard a startled gasp: before her was another girl with red hair... only hers was carrot red, and her freckled face was much different than Jessie's own ivory complexion.

The girl's hair was hanging loosely around her shoulders, and she was wearing a yellow cut-off tank top over a pair of cute-looking overall shorts.

"No way," she whispered, staring straight at Jessica in angry horror; she instantly took on a ready stance and grabbed one of her Poke balls. "What are _you_ doing here?! Up to no good all over again, _and_ mocking being sick while you're at it?! I didn't think you'd actually stoop so low!"

"W-what are you talking about?!" Jessica all but squeaked, locking up when the girl threw the Poke ball and a star-shaped creature exploded out of it with a flash of red light; the rose-haired girl twitched and covered her eyes, then glanced at the other redhead with horror on her face. "W-w-what are you doing?!"

"Acting won't work this time, Team Rocket!" the girl shouted, taking on a battle stance. "Choose one of your Pokemon already, you ugly hag! I already know it's you!"

Jessica twitched at being called an 'ugly hag' and her eyes filled with startled tears.

"I'm not an ugly hag!" Jessica stammered, eyes widening in horrified outrage; the redheaded girl in front of her instantly paused, staring at her face in wary confusion. "I'm not an ugly hag! You're a horrible person! I'm not ugly! I'm not ugly! Take it back!"

"What's wrong with you?!" the other girl snapped; she looked uncertain and was slowly straightening out of her fighting stance. "Aren't you going to battle?"

"I can't even move, so how could I possibly fight?!" Jessica bawled, crying like a little girl and turning her face away. "If you didn't come to visit, go away! I'm not ugly!"

"Who _are_ you?" the girl standing in Jessica's doorway bluntly demanded, calling her Pokemon back with a stunned expression. "You're not acting anything like Jessie."

"Huh?" the redhead asked, looking at her with a startled expression. "Wait... do you know me?"

"What do you mean?!" the girl demanded, looking a little angry all over again. "Don't tell me you've already forgotten who I am! It hasn't been that long!"

"Who are you?" Jessica whispered, not understanding why the redhead's face turned purple with anger. "Why are you so angry?"

"My name is Misty, you moron!" the girl snapped, stomping her foot; then she blinked in surprise and touched her silken hair. "Oh, right... I forgot."

After grabbing the tie resting on her wrist, Misty expertly pulled her hair up and tied it into a lazy side-ponytail.

"Recognize me now?" she deadpanned, glancing at Jessica with furrowed brows. "Are you Jessie or not? Aren't you part of Team Rocket?"

"What's Team Rocket?" the girl confusedly inquired, making Misty's jaw drop. "I don't recognize you... sorry."

"Weird," Misty murmured, shaking her head; then a voice called her from down the hall and she poked her head back out. "I'll be there in a minute, Sis! I found an old... ugh, _friend..._ in one of the rooms. I'm gonna visit for a bit."

With that, she closed the door and cautiously headed inside the dark room: Jessica blinked like an owl when Misty sat down in the chair Professor Oak had used.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, looking at the rose-haired teen with a suspicious expression. "I can't bring myself to believe you just yet."

"I don't know," Jessica stated honestly, touching her head with furrowed brows; tendrils of her extremely long hair slid over her hands when she sighed. "The doctor said I was in an accident, but nobody will tell me what's going on. I don't remember anything... it's all blank."

"Okaaaay," Misty muttered, quirking an eyebrow, "then, if that's the case, why were you screaming?"

"Um… I just had a really bad nightmare, that's all…" Jessica stammered, trying to sound as honest and docile as possible; however, she didn't like the sensation her untruthful words gave her, and it made her face go awry. "I... had a nightmare."

"A nightmare," Misty repeated slowly. "You were screaming... because of a nightmare."

Almost immediately, her mouth quirked and she snickered a little bit, puzzling the other redhead.

"What's so funny?" Jessica asked, frowning in confusion; Misty kept smiling and rested her chin on her on hand for a moment, cerulean eyes softening for the first time as she relaxed. She sized the injured girl up and down for a moment before nodding in content. "Um... why are you laughing and staring?"

"Oh, it's nothing," Misty replied demurely, giving her an amused flap of her hand. "It's just that… well, you're actually horrible at lying, which is something I wouldn't have expected from you. Plus, a nightmare? Really? If you really lost your memories, every moment has to feel like a nightmare."

"Oh," Jessica sighed, realizing that the other girl actually had a sense of humor. "Well, it's not as bad as I thought it'd be. Everyone's been really nice."

"Well... hopefully you'll stay this way," Misty muttered, countenance turning a bit grim. "I like you a lot better like this. If you'd acted this way from the start, we might have been good friends, you know."

"Huh?" the scarlet-haired maiden asked, blinking when Misty stood up and turned to leave the room. "Wait, please! You told me your name, but who are you to me?"

The girl walked to the door and opened it before glancing over her shoulder at Jessica.

"I'm the leader of the Cerulean Gym," the girl replied with a faint smile, "but until you prove this isn't an act... you and I are mortal enemies."

With that, Misty turned around and left the hospital room, leaving behind a terrified girl who had no idea what was going on.


	4. Chapter 3: Reluctant Sibling Rivalry

**Chapter Three: A Reluctant Sibling Rivalry**

Jessica stood in place with solemn indigo eyes as she examined herself in the bathroom mirror.

She'd just finished donning the two-layered dress that Professor Oak had given to her since her old clothes had apparently been destroyed in the unnamed accident. It had already been two and a half weeks since she'd awoken with no memories, but still... nobody had told her a single thing about her past. Misty had also come to visit her several times, and while she'd babbled about how annoying her elder sisters could be and constantly complained about the latest challenges at her gym, she'd always gone quiet whenever Jessica asked a question about who she used to be.

Somehow... the redhead had a weird feeling that everyone was purposely keeping her in the dark.

Shaking her head, the girl sighed and straightened the sandals she'd been given, long hair sliding over her shoulders and brushing against the ground.

She was officially going to be leaving the hospital that afternoon since her injuries had healed well enough for her to walk. All she really had to do was wait for Professor Oak to return, so now she was simply staring at her reflection. However, after the first week, she had been shocked to discover that people weren't born with crimson hair: according to her doctor, her hair had been artificially colored to look that way.

It had slowly changed back to its natural color during the time she'd spent in the hospital, lightening from it's former rose hue to a much more natural looking reddish gold. She had been alarmed at first, but Dr. Kesslov had pointedly reassured her that almost everyone in the world dyed their hair to spark a sense of unique individuality. Hairstyles were also used by some as a way of expressing personalities.

Her hair was slowly returning to its natural state: there was apparently nothing to worry about.

A thin bandage was taped across her forehead and the wound on her back ached whenever she moved the wrong way, but Jessica was almost back on her feet. When she finally exited the bathroom, though, she sighed and hung her head: she had been trying to see something that might have sparked a memory of who she really was, but all she'd seen was a sad, lonely, and utterly confused teenage girl wearing clothes that didn't belong to her.

The outfit was pretty, though... she couldn't deny that much.

Jessica was currently dressed in a white button-up t-shirt and a black, sleeveless dress that had buttons extending down the front of the blouse: according to her doctor, who'd examined the outfit once she'd put it on the previous afternoon, it closely resembled an expensive high school uniform.

Why she'd been given a dress that looked school-related, jessica didn't know.

Nor did she want to.

Professor Oak had come again earlier that morning and gone through the two rules she would have to follow if she was going to stay with Delia: first off, the woman was a very gentle person, and Jessica would have to do whatever she asked. Second off, she would need to follow all of the rules that Delia laid out, and if she did so... they would see about getting her a Pokemon license. And Lastly... her son was going to be returning home within another week to meet Jessica in person. The man had stressed about this: no matter what happened... she would need to do as her new brother asked and deal with him in good nature.

She had been given a warning that the boy might possibly be difficult and very bad-tempered at first.

Jessica had felt next to nothing when she'd been told that she'd had a choice to make: she'd known that she would never get adopted at her age, so she'd decided to simply go along with what everyone wanted. However, when it came time for her to leave... she felt an odd chill and hesitantly looked around at the people sitting in the hospital. Doctors were watching her with worried eyes and several patients were glaring venomously as she slinked down the linoleum hallway towards the admittance area.

_Why is everyone looking at me like that?_ the girl wondered, swallowing as goosebumps rose on her arms. _Why do they look so angry?_

By the time she arrived, her face was pale and utterly devoid of expression.

Professor Oak was already waiting for her, greying brown hair looking much messier than usual.

"People were glaring at me," the redhead stated in a shaken tone, staring straight ahead once she was standing next to him; however, the man frowned when he noticed that she was shivering violently. "Almost everyone I passed on the way out of here was glaring... it scared me."

"Don't worry, Jessica," the man croaked, giving a soft smile. "You're going to be just fine, trust me."

"If you hadn't noticed, I'm the farthest thing from fine right now," the redhead retorted lifelessly, walking out the doors and sliding onto the back of the bike he'd brought. She closed her shimmering indigo eyes when Professor Oak hopped onto the vehicle: with several grunts, the man pushed off and Jessica clamped down on him in alarm. Soon after, they began to head away from Viridian City Hospital to Delia's home in Pallet Town.

Sadly, all she had to her name was a small backpack that held only a few things: two sets of clothes and some bathroom things.

Even more depressing was the fact that, aside from the wind rushing through Jessie's clothes, the bike ride was uncomfortably silent: the redhead kept her cheek pressed against the old man's back and solemnly stared at the ground as it passed, holding her long hair on her lap to keep it from getting caught in the tires or something. It was a windy autumn afternoon, so the air was chilly, but when they entered the forest she felt a shiver run down her spine.

The redhead glanced up when she saw odd-looking creatures crawling along the trees and fluttering around in the air.

"What are those?" Jessica asked, making the old man look up. "Up in the trees, I mean."

"Those are Bug Pokemon," the professor explained, panting as he pedaled the two-seated bike. "They inhabit the Viridian Forest as well as a vast majority of the Kanto region, as far as I am aware. There are many different types, including poison and grass."

"Really?" Jessica asked, eyes widening in childish wonder; she instantly glanced at the Bug Pokemon they were passing. "Wow..."

"You should already know that, though," Professor Oak grumbled, making her wince. "You shouldn't have forgotten so many things... it's a hassle."

"I'm sorry," Jessica mumbled, face falling in dismay; she didn't even know what she'd done, but the apology was instinctive. "I'll try to remember, I promise."

"No, that's quite alright," the man hastily retorted, rapidly turning pale; he turned down a woodsy path before letting out a sigh. "Don't stress yourself."

Jessica merely stared off into space with a depressed expression until they were close to Pallet Town.

It was a long ride, but Jessica was blessed since her new guardian had already gotten her living quarters prepared.

"We're here," Professor Oak finally muttered, pedaling up a large hill before stopping in front of a building with a laboratory sign above it. "I'm going to run into the lab for a moment. Wait right here and don't go anywhere."

"Yes, sir," Jessica sighed, shivering when the man hopped off the bike and hurried inside. "Please, take your time."

When he was gone, the girl slowly turned her head and looked out over the hill: after the girl had taken note of what her new home looked like, she found that she actually rather like how quaint and woodsy it looked. Pallet town was surrounded by trees of every color imaginable, and at the very edge of the southernmost fields, there was a beautifully clear lake that shone with prismatic colors.

_I guess that's why they call it Pallet Town,_ the girl vaguely realized, blinking in surprise. _It's like an artist's pallet... it has every color imaginable._

Just as she was about to start daydreaming, something was plopped on top of her head and she jumped: lifting her hands, she realized with a startled expression that someone had plopped a sunhat right on her head from behind. Professor Oak was nodding when she realized it was him who'd put this piece of clothing on her: she instantly stared at him in confusion.

"Just as I thought," he muttered in a pleasant tone. "It suits you perfectly."

"Thank you?" Jessica hesitantly proffered, watching as he slid back onto the bike and started peddling away from the lab and out into the field. "It's a pretty hat."

He didn't answer, nor did he respond to anything she said afterwards... in fact, he seemed rather on edge until they stopped in front of a beautiful yellow house with white trim. Jessica gasped upon seeing it, because it had a gorgeous flower garden resting where a front lawn should have been. All around were fields dotted by sparse multicolored trees, but around the house was a small grove of dark green Ash trees that gave the redhead a small semblance of comfort once she'd entered them.

"Wow!" Jessica whispered, gawking at the flowers in amazement. "They're so beautiful!"

"We're here," Professor Oak muttered, turning and giving her a firm expression. "Remember what I told you, all right? Apparently, there's been a change of plans... and your new foster brother, Ash, is going to be coming here tonight instead of next week."

"I hope he likes me," Jessica stated earnestly, eyes lighting up with a nervous amount hope. "I'll do my very best to be a good sister, I promise!"

Something in the man's eyes shifted and he narrowed them, seeming to be truly confused by something.

"You really have lost your memories, haven't you?" he asked in a puzzled tone. "Jessica... you and Ash... I don't think..."

"What?" the girl curiously asked, cocking her head to the side with an innocent blink. "What is it?"

The man's expression faltered and he sighed, averting his eyes.

"Nothing," he mumbled, giving her a nod. "Just remember: be on your best behavior and do whatever you're asked to do. I have to go, so I wish you luck."

The girl nodded and stepped off the bike, dusting her skirt off before letting go of her hair.

She waved when Professor Oak turned around and started heading back down the dirt path, waved until he was gone and out of sight. Then her hand fell and she merely stood in place, not really knowing what she was supposed to do. She slowly lifted her bag with worry glimmering in her indigo irises: Jessica was just about to start walking around when she felt a tap on her shoulder, which made her spin around. Standing before her was a creature with white and red and pink skin... a creature with weird-looking appendages sticking out of its head... a creature that was blinking at her and holding a broom.

"W-w-whoa!" Jessica stammered, stepping back in surprise. "Who are you?!"

"Mr. Mime?" the creature squeaked, cocking its head before lifting a hand and flailing the broom; it's eyes had gone from being curious to something much more frantic. "Mime! Mime! Mime! Mr. Mime!"

Jessie squeaked and leapt backwards when it swung the broom at her, eyes widening with horror.

The creature was hefting the broom up and down... but for some reason, it was staring at her with furious eyes.

"G-go away!" she squeaked, looking around for somewhere to run. "Um... please?!"

"Mime! Mime! Mime!" the creature squealed. "MIME!"

Jessica yelped when the broom was swung again, but when she tried to run away, she smacked face first into an object she couldn't see.

"Ow!" the girl wailed, clutching her nose as she hit the ground on her butt; her back instantly seared. "OOOOOWW! Ow, ow, ow! Stop it! Please!"

The girl tried to crawl in another direction, but she flinched when she crashed against another unseen wall: two more attempts yielded the same result, and the girl went into a fit of hysteria when she realized she was trapped. Shaking violently, the girl began to cry and buried her face in her knees, covering her ears with both hands as the creature hit her with the end of the broom: she was simply glad it was the end meant for sweeping and not the bar.

"Mimey, what on earth are you doing?!" a female voice gasped, making Jessie twitch; the assault instantly stopped, but the girl didn't dare to glance up until she was sure the battering was over. When she finally looked up, the creature was clutching the apron of a young woman with long brown hair that had been tied into a ponytail: it was jumping up and down and pointing at her in a frantic manner. "Mimey, be nice! She's our new resident!"

The Pokemon instantly halted and looked at her in confusion.

"Mime?" it asked, cocking its head. "Mr. Mime?"

"Be nice!" the woman kindly scolded, smiling when the creature shuffled its foot in the dirt. "She's a friend!"

Jessica frantically rubbed her eyes when the woman started to approach, but before she could get to her feet, a hand was being held in front of her eyes. The redhead hesitantly looked at it before she allowed the woman to help her up. For several moments, Jessica refused to meet the woman's gaze... but then, after swallowing her fear, the girl looked up and found herself staring into the warmest brown eyes she'd ever seen.

"I... I'm okay," Jessica stammered awkwardly, averting her eyes with a flush; she anxiously shifted her weight and clasped her hands to keep them from shaking, even though she didn't know why she was nervous. "I... I'm sure it was a misunderstanding or something... I... I'm fine."

"I'm glad you've forgiven him," the woman sighed, gently brushing a patch of dust off her shoulder. "He's normally a rather friendly Pokemon, so I really don't know what got into him. I'm so sorry that he made such an awful first impression on you. Anyway, as I'm sure you've already gathered, I'm your new foster mother, Delia Ketch'um. It's a pleasure to meet you, Jessica."

"U-um, same goes for me," the girl stammered, bowing her head so low that her hair brushed against the dirt. "Thank you for t-taking me in."

"Well, don't just stand there, silly!" the woman laughed, startling Jessie into standing up; the woman was already heading inside. "Come inside and take a look at your new room! It used to be my son's room, but since he's out traveling and seeing the world, I don't think he'll mind too much."

Jessica hefted her bag and hesitantly made her way inside the house.

However, upon entering, the girl felt an odd sense of welcome upon doing so and slowed down a little in surprise.

The kitchen she'd just entered was small, but very family-friendly: sunflower yellow tiles covered all of the kitchen counters and red linoleum decorated the floors, but in the very center was a wooden table large enough to seat eight people. She found the decor to her liking and smiled since it gave off a very cozy sensation. However, she quickly followed Delia into the hall and made her way over to where the woman stopped: when the brunette turned and held her hand out with a motherly smile, Jessica peered around the corner and gasped in absolute surprise.

In front of her was a room that had been outfitted to look like every teenage girl's wildest dream: the walls were a gentle blue, and the colors in the room matched, but taped on the walls were the most up to date male idols as well as several beautiful paintings. On top of having her own bed, she also had a desk with a computer on one side of the room, and several stuffed Pokemon were resting in her closet.

"Do you like it?" Delia hesitantly asked, making the redhead gawk at her. "I... didn't know if the style would be suited for you, but..."

"This is more than I could have ever asked for!" Jessie instantly exclaimed, looking at the room with adoring eyes. "Thank you so much, Mrs. Ketch'um!"

"I'm glad," the woman giggled, happily covering her mouth. "Anyway, there are some clean pajamas in there for you, so feel free to change after you shower."

"Wait... you bought me new clothes? And you're giving them to me for free?" Jessica exclaimed, eyes widening. "Um... thank you, but are you sure it's okay?"

"Of course I am!" Delia replied brightly. "You don't have to worry about such complicated matters yet, Jessica: you're a growing girl, and what you need the most right now is some proper care. I will _not_ have you sleeping on the streets, and since you have no mother, I'm stepping up to the task! This is your home from today onward, so make yourself comfortable. I have to start making supper, so you should unpack and get settled in. Also, I was told that some of your injuries haven't fully healed yet, so... just relax and take it easy for the next few weeks."

"Well, o-okay," Jessica stammered, and with that, the woman was gone with a happy hum, seeming to be in high spirits. "Wow... she's so cheerful."

However, when the girl glanced at her new room, a sudden and unexpectedly swift pang of guilt struck deep into her heart. She immediately frowned, looking down at the ground with an unhappy expression: she had no idea why, but the sight of this room had reawakened something painful inside her. Something that said she didn't deserve any of this. Feeling solemn and upset, Jessica turned into the room and closed the door before putting her things away.

_It's a really nice room, _the girl thought to herself, frowning a little as she grabbed a plain white dress, _but I wonder why I feel like I don't deserve it._

Unhappily, the girl grabbed a towel before heading off to the nearest bathroom. Once she was clean, dressed, and her glossy reddish gold hair had been fully brushed out, Jessica cautiously padded out of the bathroom and made her way down the hall that Delia had gone. However, just as she was about to open the door, she heard voices on the other side of it and stopped: Delia was speaking with someone in a very hushed tone.

"_Oh, be nice! She seems like a genuinely sweet girl,_" Delia sighed, voice muffled by the walls. "_I know we'll have to tell her sooner or later, but for now, we should just let her relax and enjoy being a teenager! Plus, you know how much I've always wanted a daughter, Professor! Ash is my pride and joy, and I love him more than life itself, so there's no need to worry about a thing. As far as I see it, I have two children from today onward: my two worlds._"

"_Let's wait until we know if her memories will come back to say that,_" Professor Oak retorted sharply, making Jessica twitch. "_We still have to keep an eye out for those shady people she was always hanging around with, so stay on your guard! If she can go an entire month without having a memory relapse or doing something to reveal whatever trick this is, I'll agree with your decision to be her mother. Okay?_"

_"Professor, I'm starting to think that you and Ash are over exaggerating things a little," _Delia giggled. "_She really does seem like a sweetheart. Even her eyes told me as much: mothers are supposed to be able to pick good people apart from the bad ones in order to protect their children. Regardless of who she used to be or what she's done in the past... this new Jessica has the eyes of a regular child, Professor. Not the eyes of a criminal."_

Jessica's heart froze and she stared off into space, throat locking up in horror.

_C... criminal?_ she wondered, covering her mouth with both hands. _No... that can't be right! I couldn't have been a criminal! I'm not a bad person, am I?!_

Trembling, the girl hunched down and hastily whirled around, leaving the premises in the assumption that Delia's conversation about her was over. Not really having anything else to do, she slowly made her way to her new room and sat down on the edge of the bed, staring out the window with shaken eyes. She sat there for an extremely long time, not really knowing what to do: she was feeling completely alone and afraid.

_It doesn't matter who I used to be,_ she thought silently, indigo eyes sad._ Even if I was a criminal, I'm not that person anymore! I'm going to be good!_

Still, Jessica sat there until the sun sank below the horizon, then buried her face in her knees until she heard a knock on her door.

"Jessica, dinner's almost ready!" Delia happily crooned, dusting off her apron. "Could you come and help me set the table?"

The redhead instantly stood up and eagerly left her new room.

"What do you need me to do?" she asked, biting her lip with an earnest expression. "I've never done this before."

"The plates are in the cabinet above the dishwasher," Delia explained, humming as she puttered back and forth between the oven and the stove. "The silverware is in the drawer beside the refrigerator. All you need to do is set five plates on the table, complete with a spoon, knife, and fork."

"Okay!" Jessica exclaimed, then hurried to do as she was asked; however, after a moment, she paused. "Huh? Um... Mrs. Ketch'um, why are we setting out five plates? Aren't there only two of us here?"

"Oh, that's right, I forgot to tell you," the brunette giggled, glancing at her with gleeful brown eyes. "Your new little brother, Ash, is coming home tonight! When he heard that I had decided to take you in and adopt you, he couldn't wait to come see for himself! He and his two friends are going to be eating dinner with us tonight! I think it'll be a good bonding experience for you two!"

"Do you really think he'll like me?" Jessie asked, glancing at her with nervous eyes.

"Oh, silly, of course he'll like you!" Delia soothed, flapping a dismissive hand as she stirred the pot of food in her hands. "Ash is a very loving boy. He's loyal, strong, and just like his father with that boundless determination. When he turned eleven and decided to become a Pokemon Trainer, I knew there would be no stopping him since he'd never give up, even if I told him to stay home. I couldn't do anything but send him off with everything he needed, because that's the path he decided to follow for his future."

"He sounds like a strong person," Jessie murmured, eyes beginning to shine with admiration, "but wasn't it hard for you when he left?"

"Oh, of course it was!" Delia giggled, shaking her head before a frown graced her expression. "We've had quite a few scares over the years, too... in fact, around two years ago, Ash got himself wrapped up in some sort of geological change that originated in the Orange Islands, and he ended up almost losing his life. It was so dangerous... my boy could have been killed. Then, only last year, I was kidnapped by an Entei and... well, lots of fearful things happened. These days, though, Ash is starting to become more and more like his father... and I'm worried that he'll end up going missing one day, just like his dad."

Jessica's fingers halted and she blinked in confusion; then her eyes widened and she glanced at Delia in shock.

"Mr. Ketch'um went missing?" the redhead asked, mouth falling open when the woman sighed and nodded. "W-what happened?! How?!"

"I don't know," the woman murmured, placing a top on the pot full of stew. "I haven't been able to contact him in almost thirteen years now."

"Mrs. Ketch'um, I'm so sorry," Jessica whispered, biting her lip. "I'm sure he's probably doing something so important that it requires a lot of secrecy! Maybe he's researching something on a faraway island, or maybe he's become such a strong trainer that he's started working for the government! You never know! I heard one of the doctors saying that some jobs don't allow any form of communication until the task has been completed!"

"You think?" Delia asked, brightening up a bit. "Do you really think he might be doing something amazing like that?"

"Of course!" Jessica confirmed, nodding with a firm expression. "If Ash is just like him, I'm sure your husband is doing something wonderful!"

However, before anything else could be said, the doorbell rang and Delia's honey brown eyes lit up in delight.

"That must be Ash and his friends!" the woman gushed, pulling her oven mitts on before opening the stove and pulling out a tray of cornbread. "Jessica, dear, could you please go and get the door? I have to finish getting dinner ready, and Mimey is sweeping the road out back like he always is."

"Y-yes, of course!" the redhead exclaimed, grinning widely before hurrying over to the front entrance; the doorbell rang three more times. "I'm coming!"

Gripping the knob, Jessica turned it and opened the door before stepping back and staring at the three people now standing in front of her. The person on the left was a huge young man with broad shoulders, tan skin, and dark hair that had been spiked in a precise jagged manner; the person on the right was an extremely beautiful girl with dyed sapphire blue hair, large blue eyes, a willowy build, and soft lips. Then there was the boy standing between them... a boy with a worn white and red cap, a simple pair of blue jeans, black leather gloves, natural black hair, and gentle brown eyes.

On his shoulder was an adorable yellow Pokemon that bristled when she blinked at it in utter delight.

"Y-you must be Ash," Jessica happily stammered, swallowing her anxiety and extending her shaking hand; the boy's gentle eyes sharpened into an extremely hostile glare, but before he could even open his mouth, the boy standing beside him gripped his shoulders and pushed him inside. Jessie stepped aside and hunched her shoulders to let them squeeze past, but before she could so much as blink, the blue-haired girl gripped her arm. "Ow! Um... miss, that hurts."

"We're watching you, _Rocket," _the girl stated in a low tone, eyes narrowing into a threatening expression. "We don't know what you're up to, but we'll figure it out sooner or later. You're not going to get Pikachu, so if you're acting, you'd better keep it up until we leave again."

After she finished speaking, her grip tightened and her eyes sharpened, but she frowned when Jessica's face merely turned pale.

The redhead had honestly been stricken with fright at the threatening statements.

"U-um..." Jessica squeaked, shakily lifting a hand despite her hammering heart. "D-dinner's almost... ready..."

The blue-haired girl merely removed her hand and wiped it off on her shirt with a forced expression of disgust before stalking after the two boys. Jessica slowly slid to the ground and shivered, but her throat tightened when she heard a mostly one-sided argument taking place between one of the boys and Delia in the kitchen. She didn't need to hear his accusations to know that Ash didn't want to have anything to do with her now: the look on his face and the threat from his friend had been enough.

When Delia told him that she'd given his old room to Jessica and moved his things to the guest room, the sound of his angry shouting made her wince.

It continued for a long time, but through it all, she heard nothing but horrible 'what if' situations being talked about.

She eventually covered her ears and curled up into a ball to avoid the sound of her new brother's hostility, but the things she'd already heard remained, making her feel like a horrible person. She could tell by the way he was shouting that he really believe she was horrible enough to do the things he was imagining. It made her feel sick inside, and it also made her wonder just how bad of a person she used to be.

Jessie waited in the hall until the arguing ceased, then stood back up and headed into the kitchen.

Two pairs of eyes glared at her when she walked into the room, but Delia smiled and waved her to the empty seat.

"Come on in, Jessica!" the woman exclaimed, beaming at the depressed girl. "Sorry about that! We had a bit of an argument, but it's been settled. Take a seat and I'll get your plate ready."

Jessica forced a smile that didn't really touch her eyes, then looked off to the side with a hard lump in her throat.

"That's okay," she whispered, unable to make her voice go any louder for some reason. "I... I-I don't think I'm really all that hungry. I think I'll just..."

"You need to eat for your injuries to heal," Delia stated sternly, giving her a worried expression. "If you don't keep your strength up, you won't get better."

The redhead swallowed, but closed her eyes and gave up.

"Okay," Jessica croaked, shakily heading over to the empty seat and sitting down between the blue-haired girl and the dark-skinned boy. "Thank you."

There was a heavy silence when Delia stood up and made her way over to the stove: she happily filled a bowl with some stew, then cut some cornbread and set it in front of the girl before getting herself a bowl. Everyone gave thanks, with the redhead confusedly mimicking their movements, before they began to eat the meal that Mrs. Ketch'um had prepared.

"So, how are your travels going?" Delia finally asked, eagerly leaning forward after taking a bite. "Did you get any new Gym Badges from other regions?"

"Yeah, Mrs. Ketch'um!" the blue-haired girl, who'd been introduced as Dawn, exclaimed. "In fact, his last match was the most impressive!"

With that, all three travelers began to elaborate on the Pokemon they'd recently seen and caught.

Jessica, on the other hand, couldn't help but notice that the yellow Pokemon's adorably large brown eyes remained fixed on her the entire time.

The red spots on its cheeks also sparked intensely every time she moved her arms, and it had her feeling both confused and curious.

So, against her better judgement, the girl decided to ask a question.

"Excuse me?" Jessica asked, hooking a strand of hair behind her ear before she glanced at Ash. "What kind of... er, Pokemon is that? It's really cute, but it's cheeks keep glowing bright yellow, and every now and then, the red spots spark."

The room went dead quiet and Brock, the dark-skinned boy, frowned at her.

Feeling as though she were shrinking under their hostile glares, Jessica meekly huddled down and took a sip of her water.

"Just stop it and give up the act already!" Ash finally snapped, setting down his fork with a clatter. "We already know this isn't real!"

"W-what?!" Jessie choked, coughing on her water in surprise. "What do you mean?!"

"Ash," Brock said in a quiet, warning voice; Dawn merely checked her nails and sighed, looking uncomfortable. "We talked about this."

"I don't care!" the boy snapped, leaning forward from the waist and staring straight into Jessie's eyes. "I don't care if she lost her memories! She's the bad guy!"

"Ash!" Delia gasped.

"I'm not a bad person!" Jessie shouted, leaping to her feet and smacking the table with horrified eyes. "I'm not!"

However, before she could blink, the yellow Pokemon leapt on her chest and clung to her with little claws that made her pause.

When she glanced down with a startled blink, she saw two adorable brown eyes looking right at her.

"Pika..." the mousey creature squeaked, making Jessie's eyes soften; just as she lifted her arms to wrap it in a hug, it screeched, "CHUUUUUUUU!"

The entire kitchen was suddenly filled with blinding yellow light.

Jessica screeched, arching her back as she was shocked to the point of electrocution: the windows behind her were blasted clean out of the house, and everyone instantly ducked under the table to avoid getting hit by the blast. When it was over, Jessica's knees buckled and the creature leapt onto the table: Ash, Dawn, Brock, and Delia slowly sat up and looked at the girl sitting on the floor with bated breath, expecting her to get angry at the very least. However, when she lifted her head, everyone froze.

One sob filled the air... then another... and soon, Jessica was crying hysterically, shuddering violently and twitching all over.

"She... she's crying?" Ash stammered, looking stunned by the tears rolling down the redhead's face; similarly, both of his friends looked just as shocked by the sight of 'Jessie' sitting sprawled on the ground and crying her eyes out. "B-b-but... she shouldn't be crying! Where's all the 'prepare for trouble and make that double' mumbo jumbo?! Why isn't she...?"

"Ash Ketch'um!" Delia shouted, looking at her windows in horror before hurrying over to Jessica's side; she instantly parted the girl's hair and gasped, face draining of color. "Oh, dear... oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear! Brock, please do me a favor and call for a doctor!"

"A... a doctor?!" the dark-skinned boy squeaked, sounding completely baffled. "Well, okay, but... was she really hurt that badly?!"

"Her stitches broke open," Delia sighed, gently cutting the back of the crying girl's dress open and carefully pinching the wound closed before pressing a rag against it. Three faces simultaneously paled, and Brock immediately did as he was asked. "Dawn, please grab me some antiseptic from the bathroom."

The girl instantly got up and hurried off.

"W-what should I do?" Ash asked, biting his lip when Jessie continued crying; Pikachu looked completely confused about their reactions. "Mom?"

For a moment, Delia looked at him with solemn eyes.

"I think you've done enough, Dear," she stated softly, then proceeded to wait for the doctor to arrive. "You're grounded for a week."


	5. Chapter 4: Fear

**Chapter Four: Fear  
**

Ash was frustrated... and it was a feeling that only continued to grow as more time passed.

Four days of his punishment had come and gone and Jessica's wounds had long since been tended to... but for some reason, an odd heaviness had settled over the Ketch'um family home. In truth, it was mostly because the redhead hadn't left her new room ever since she'd been shocked by Pikachu. Nobody had seen head or tail of her during meal times, but it was fairly obvious that she was eating since the trays Delia worriedly left outside her door were always empty about an hour later.

However, one well-acted fit of crocodile tears wasn't exactly enough to erase everything that Team Rocket had done to Ash and _all_ of his friends.

Not only was the boy suspicious of the redhead's intentions, he also had a very weird feeling that his mother was upset with him over it.

That's why it finally got to the point where he couldn't take the frustration anymore.

"I just don't get it," the black-haired boy snapped on the fifth evening, angrily pacing back and forth in the guest room while Dawn and Brock sleepily watched him vent. "Team Rocket should have given up the gig by now, and since they haven't, there must be something deeper going on here! Plus, where are James and Meowth? It's not natural for them to _not_ be together! Even if they are the nastiest people on earth, they've never been apart for this long!"

"Ash," Brock groaned, watching the boy's frantic pacing with a frown. "Don't you think you should calm down for the night?"

"How can I calm down when my _worst enemy_ is _sleeping_ in my _mother's house?!"_ the boy squealed back, covering his face with shaking hands. "How can I calm down when my Mom thinks _I'm_ the bad guy because of what happened?! I mean, Pikachu only shocked Jessie like he always does whenever Team Rocket shows up! I She shouldn't have... I mean, she was always the one who... who... oh, forget it! I just don't understand! Why did she start crying?! Why did she act like that?! It's not normal, and I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do!"

"You know," Dawn finally murmured, tiredly putting her book on the nightstand, "maybe this _isn't_ an act: maybe Jessie really did lose her memories and now she doesn't even know who she is."

For a long moment, the boy stopped pacing and merely stared at her blankly.

"How could that have happened?" Ash retorted, slowly turning to stare at her. "Don't tell me you really think that someone like Jessie could be clumsy enough to get herself into an accident that wiped all of her memories! If that were the case, I would relax, but she's too smart to allow something like that to ever really happen! There's no way I'm going to believe she lost her memories!"

"Ash, look at the facts," the blue-haired girl cautiously explained, closing her sapphire eyes. "She's not acting like the Jessie we know... and something about her eyes looks different. I mean, honestly, even if she _was_ acting... do you really think the _old_ Jessie would ever let herself cry in front of someone else?"

That stopped Ash in his tracks and he frowned, thinking back to all the times he'd encountered the redhead in the past.

Even Misty, one of his oldest friends, had once told him after winning a doll contest that Jessie was way too proud to cry in front of anyone else.

"No way," Ash muttered, shuddering at the thought. "She'd never let herself cry: that's why I was so shocked by it."

"Ash," Brock sighed, shaking his head, "maybe we should just see where things go and wing it for a while. We could stick around for a few more weeks and keep an eye on her if you're really that worried, and who knows? This would be a good opportunity for me to visit my family back in Pewter City. All in all, it could be that the new Jessie really isn't all that bad, you know?"

"Brock, are you serious?!" Ash scoffed, looking at him with a helpless expression. "The idea of Jessie living in my mother's house terrifies me!"

"Regardless, you've been pacing for hours, and all of us are tired," the older of the two boys pointed out. "I know you want your Mom to listen to you, but the circumstances concerning Jessie's missing memories aren't the greatest. I mean, think of it from her point of view: if she really did lose her memories, she's starting out completely fresh and her personality is a clean slate. However, if she really is innocent, that would probably mean that she's suffering from the knowledge that she used to be a criminal."

"What we need to do is apologize to her," Dawn muttered, scratching her head in dismay. "I never thought I'd have to say it to Team Rocket, but it's true."

"Are you nuts?!" Ash shouted, mouth falling open in horrified dismay. "Apologize?! To Team Rocket?! No way! She... she's the enemy! Even with no memories, I can't accept this!"

"True, but then again, she was defenseless without a Pokemon and Pikachu severely hurt her: it doesn't matter whether or not she's the enemy," Dawn stated softly, looking up at him with serious eyes. "She was crying, Ash... and _we_ were the ones who made her cry. The right thing to do would be apologizing to her. Now, can we go to bed, please? It's almost three in the morning and I'm tired."

"Fine," Ash stated quietly, letting out a deflated sigh before he climbed into his own bunk. "Sorry for keeping you guys up so long."

"Don't worry about it," Dawn yawned, curling up and switching her bunk bed's lamp off. "We'll just have to rest up as much as possible."

"Yeah, and I don't really blame you," Brock croaked, rolling over on his side. "Having a Rocket living in my house would scare me, too."

The boy stared at his friends for a long time, watching as their breathing slowly became rhythmic and they fell asleep. Pikachu soon hopped off the window sill and jumped onto the boy's mattress bunk, snuggling up beside him with a soft squeak of its name. Letting out a yawn of his own, the black-haired boy turned over on his side and closed his eyes. However, thoughts began flitting through his mind, preventing him from doing so: he had been fretting over his mother's solemn demeanor so badly that he hadn't gotten much sleep lately.

Even though Jessie was supposed to be the bad guy, and even though he'd fervently protested that Pikachu hadn't done anything wrong... he couldn't help but feel guilty.

In the end, enemy or not, they really had hurt Jessie and made her cry.

_No matter what,_ the boy glumly thought, letting out a dismayed huff of air, _I have to find out what Team Rocket's true motive is. Otherwise I won't be able to make a decent conversation with my Mom. In order for that to work, __I have to act like I'm going to trust her. I'll approach her gently, I guess... and act like I'm her friend._

Ash immediately halted his train of thought when Pikachu's ears twitched: the Pokemon instantly growled, cheeks sparking.

The teenager flew into an upright position when the sound of running water in the kitchen caught his attention.

_This has to be it!_ he anxiously thought, tossing his covers off. _Jessie's showing her true colors! It's almost three in the morning, so she shouldn't be up!_

The dark-haired boy grinned and held out his arm, letting Pikachu jump up to his shoulder; then he slowly made his way over to the open door and slid into the hall. He crept along the corridor towards his mother's kitchen, planning to catch Jessie red handed with whatever she was doing: after all, this was his chance to prove that he'd been in the right. However, the moment he poked his head around the corner, his stomach clenched and his face paled.

Jessica was currently standing in front of the sink with a glass of water in her hand: she was wearing a set of old pajamas that looked way too big for her small frame, and her auburn hair was somewhat disheveled. In reality, Ash had never seen what Jessie looked like without her mountains of makeup on, so he was actually rather startled to discover that she was actually an extremely pretty girl. However, the redhead's indigo eyes looked like the pure reincarnation of sadness: she wasn't crying or anything... just undeniably unhappy.

And the very fact that she looked so sad sent an unpleasant jolt through his stomach.

"Hey... um... Jessie? Why are you up so late?" the boy hesitantly asked, keeping his eyes locked on her face; the redhead's dark blue eyes went blank with terror and she jolted away from him, causing her to drop the glass of water. Ash jumped back when it shattered, then glanced at her in alarm: the girl's face had turned pale... but then she panicked and knelt down to retrieve the broken glass. "H-hey, you don't have to do that!"

"I... I'm sorry," the former rocket member whispered, picking up the pieces with shaking hands. "I'll clean it up... just... don't shock me again, please..."

"I wouldn't ask Pikachu to shock you over something like this!" Ash squeaked, waving his hands with startled eyes. "Come on! It's sharp, so don't touch it!"

Right around that moment, the girl's expression twitched and she jerked her hand back with a hiss.

"Ow," Jessica whined, turning her small palm upright and looking at her fingers when blood started welling up. "That really hurt..."

"Hey, d-did you just cut yourself?!" Ash gasped, stretching out his hand to touch her shoulder; almost instantaneously, the girl jerked away from him and fell against the counter, squeezing the front of her pajamas and staring at him with enormous eyes. Her expression reminded him of a Pokemon that had been caught in a trap. "H-huh? W-what's wrong?! Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I... I..." the girl stammered, then huddled down on herself and looked away. "I'm s-sorry..."

When he realized the answer behind her odd behavior, it made the boy's heart go numb.

Jessica was afraid him.

Ash let his hand drop and merely stared at the former criminal, brown eyes devoid of rational comprehension.

"You're... you're scared of me?" Ash asked, looking at her with an incredulous expression. "You can't be scared of me! It's not possible!"

"I-I... well, I..." Jessie stammered, lowering her frightened eyes and hiding them behind her hair; she hesitantly crawled back onto all fours and once again started picking up pieces of the broken glass. "I... I'm sorry... I'll clean this up right away."

When he tried to lean down and help, his fingers brushed against her arm and she jerked away with a whine.

It startled him more than he wanted to admit.

_She couldn't even stand... a single touch from my hand, _Ash realized, suddenly feeling afraid without knowing why. _This girl... she's not Jessie! She can't be!  
_

"Let me see your hand," Ash finally sighed, glancing at Pikachu's confused expression with an identical one. "If we don't treat it, you might get an infection."

"I'm fine, really," the girl mumbled, shivering violently. "I... I'm sure I'll be okay."

When she merely continued picking up the glass, Ash took the initiative and grabbed her wrist; the redhead immediately flinched and tried to pull away from him, but Ash's eyebrows suddenly furrowed when he noticed something... and soon, his brown eyes narrowed.

"Hey," Ash muttered, voice coming out so low that Jessica shivered; when he lifted his hand and tried to touch her face, she jerked away from him, but instead of hitting her or something, he pressed the back of hand against her forehead. His eyes instantly widened and his mouth fell open in surprise. "No way! You have a fever! Like, a bad one! Why the heck did you get up if you were sick?! Go back to bed and get some rest!"

"B... but the glass..." Jessie stammered, trembling in the face of his hostility. "I have to..."

"I'll take care of it!" the fourteen-year-old barked, dragging Jessie to her feet by one of her arms and pulling her down the hall; the girl swallowed when he pulled her down the hall and into her new bedroom. Then he let go and nudged her towards the bed; when she slid under the covers, Ash aggressively tucked her in and irritably stomped towards the door. "S-since you're sick, I... I'll bring you some medicine or something. Just lay down and rest!"

Jessica peered at him from where he'd pulled the covers up to her nose.

"Okay," she whispered, watching with large eyes as he bolted out of the room; he was gone not even five minutes before he came back with a thermometer, some ice, and a variety of medicine tablets. Pikachu growled and its cheeks started sparking when he stuck the thermometer in her mouth, but the Pokemon's reaction merely made Jessica huddle down under the blankets; she eyed the yellow Pokemon with a fearful countenance. "Y-you know, I... I'm really okay."

"What do you mean?" Ash demanded, glancing at her with a suspicious expression. "The thermometer says your temperature is almost 102.6!"

"Well, according to my old medical documents, I've always gotten fevers like this since my health is sort of frail," the redhead timidly admitted, not paying attention to how he twitched and stared at her in surprise. "I got to see all the records and everything. The papers had information about all the times I've ever been to the hospital, but apparently, ever since I was a little girl, I've gotten sick like this and needed to go in for treatment."

"Doesn't that just make things worse?! Do you really need a hospital right now or something?!" Ash squalled, looking thoroughly alarmed; before she could reply, he picked up one of the medicine tablets and eyed it fearfully. "Um, let's see... I-I I think this one will do the trick, but it says to take one of them each hour until your temperature starts to drop. Can you do that?"

"Yes," Jessica murmured, slowly sitting up and holding out her hand; he instantly dropped the pill into it. "Thank you."

She was just about to pop it into her mouth when he stopped her.

"Wait! Don't take it yet!" Ash unexpectedly squeaked, flailing his arms and making the girl jump in surprise. "J-just hold on for a second!"

Jessica jumped when he clumsily sprinted for the door a second time.

Pikachu leapt off his shoulder with a squeak when he ran out of the room, and the two of them stared at the door in confusion for what seemed like an eternity. However, when a muffled crash and the sound of glass shattering erupted in the kitchen, it nearly gave Jessica a heart attack: both she and the confused electric Pokemon stared at the door with large eyes, tension with each other forgotten.

After a while, the girl started wondering what Ash was doing in order to be able to make such a racket.

Then there was silence, which made Jessie feel a bit unnerved.

She didn't notice that Delia was peeking into her room, or even that the woman was grinning in motherly amusement.

However, soon after that her head vanished, and Ash walked inside the room again only a minute later, holding a tray of food that he slid onto Jessie's lap. When the redhead stared at him, he waved a packet of pills around with an awkward expression; the girl glanced down at the food with uncomprehending blue eyes before looking back up at him. The boy rubbed the back of his neck and waved the pills again.

"Well, um, you can eat it if you want," he commanded, looking at her with nervous eyes. "It says you're not supposed to take these on an empty stomach."

When the girl simply looked at him with, the boy sighed and turned to walk away.

"Thank you," Jessica murmured, making him halt and turn to look at her with a startled expression; she was staring at the food with the same expression he'd seen earlier in the kitchen. However, now she seemed to be struggling with the words she wanted to use in order to express herself to him. "Even though I can't remember who I used to be... or even why we didn't like each other... I have this feeling that... the last time someone took care of me when I was sick... was so long ago... that I wouldn't have even remembered how it felt unless this had happened. So, thank you, Ash. I... I appreciate it."

"Don't thank me!" Ash snapped, letting out a grumpy sigh. "I don't want it! Normally, Mom is the one who'd doing things like this, but since she's asleep, I couldn't just sit there! I really only did it because I don't want her to get mad at me!"

Jessica merely looked at him, but she couldn't help noticing that he was keeping his hands clasped to hide the fact that they were shaking. She glanced down at the oatmeal he'd made for her with unreadable blue eyes, looking at it for a very long moment. It had been given two spoonfuls of honey and a dash of brown sugar... as well as a small slice of butter.

Quite honestly, it looked and smelled extremely delicious: she was tempted to start eating it

"Thank you," Jessie murmured again, lifting the spoon and and stirring the food a little. "Even if you don't want my gratitude, you still have it."

When he glared, the girl closed her eyes and started eating the oatmeal.

Within eight minutes, it was gone, and the redhead looked sleepy. Once the girl's hand had been bandaged up, Ash merely took this opportunity to stare at her: compared to how she used to be, she seemed a lot weaker as far as her emotional side was concerned. Perhaps that's why she'd worn so much make-up in the first place: her extremely pale skin made her look small and frail, and criminals usually wanted to leave a powerful impression.

"I'm gonna go back to bed now," Ash sighed, getting to his feet and rubbing his neck. "You get some rest now, okay?"

"Um..." Jessica hesitantly whispered, catching his attention, "Ash?"

"What is it?" he demanded, watching as she clamped up for a moment. "Spit it out already."

Her eyes suddenly became sad once again and she looked at the ceiling.

"I'm very sorry..." the girl mumbled, swallowing hard. "You know, about breaking the glass... and... um, yesterday."

"I don't know if I can forgive you just yet," Ash bitterly muttered, making her wince. "You were a really bad person and you did a lot of horrible things to me and my friends. I don't trust you, and as far as I'm concerned, I probably never will... but... but if I had just ignored the fact that you were sick, I'd be no better than the person _you_ used to be."

With that, he irritably left the room, picking Pikachu up along the way.

The Pokemon's cheeks sparked and it growled before it was pulled out of sight.


	6. Chapter 5: Runaway Redhead

**Chapter Five: Runaway Redhead  
**

Over the next few days, Ash hounded Jessie's trail like crazy.

No matter what she did or where she went, even if it was only to the bathroom, the redhead would spot an intense-looking Ash Ketch'um around each and every nearby corner, staring right at her with an intensely suspicious expression. It had gotten to the point where Jessica was too disturbed to leave her room unless she was sure that everyone was fast asleep.

However, when Jessica woke upon the day that Ash was supposed to be leaving again, she reluctantly decided to make herself present since she knew, subconsciously, that she only had one more day to set things right. With that thought in mind, she forced herself out of the room she'd been given and made her way into the hall that led towards kitchen... just in time to hear Ash say that he and his friends were going to stay for a few more weeks. The redhead had frozen midstep with a palpitating heart.

She'd stood there and simply listened while he and his friends explained to Delia that they would be staying longer than they'd intended since Ash had missed being home, and Brock wanted to pay a visit to his family in Pewter City. Dawn had even come up with an ingenious excuse and had eagerly told the woman that she'd never been in the Kanto region and wanted to update her Pokedex with some new Pokemon.

To Jessica's dismay, the woman had been absolutely overjoyed by the news, so she'd promptly gone back into hiding.

However, Ash's hounding had continued... and soon, he'd figured out her schedule, which had forced her to make a new one. She now waited only for the times he expected her to be sleeping in her room to leave it. The constant prickles of anxiety coupled with the way he was always spying on her had seriously exhausted the girl, not to mention she was feeling rather out of it from trying to change her sleeping schedule so much.

Without her even noticing, however, everyone had started settling into their own little activities each day.

Dawn was a sweet girl, and Jessica usually saw her talking to Delia or helping her clean in the kitchen when she wasn't out looking for new Pokemon. Brock was usually helping the woman with the cooking or tending to everyone's Pokemon, and Ash would either be lazing around reading books or cyphering through his Pokedex to look over how many interesting things he'd seen. Jessica, when she wasn't being hounded by her foster brother, was often the odd ball out since she didn't like the glares that Dawn and Ash kept sending her whenever Delia turned her back.

She didn't really know if Brock ever glared, though: he always looked in her direction _with_ them, but since his eyes seemed to be locked into a perpetual squint, she couldn't really tell. In the end, she could only come to one conclusion: they genuinely hated her and didn't trust her at all. And that one, simple realization made her feel so awful that she quickly fell into an extreme state of depression.

For several days after she came to that conclusion, Ash had nobody to hound since the redhead did absolutely nothing but sleep... but even more worrisome than that, her appetite was virtually non-existent. After another few days had come and gone, Delia brought back an entire tray full of food with a huge frown. For the first time that anyone had ever seen, she looked genuinely upset. Which was fairly alarming, since Delia rarely ever got upset to the point where it showed on her expression.

In truth, Ash had only ever seen his mother look that way twice before.

The sight of her expression brought back a few unpleasant memories of his most dangerous times in the Orange Islands, when tornadoes, blizzards, and horrifying storms had started springing up all over the world. He had just managed to help a legendary Pokemon named Lugia quell a fearsome battle between three of the most well-known rare Pokemon: Zapdos, Moltres, and Articuno.

He had almost died several times during those battles, on numerous occasions.

However, when all had been said and done, his mother had shown up with professor Oak after barely surviving a helicopter crash, and she'd angrily grounded him for an entire month. Misty had tried to calm her down with the excuse that he had saved the entire world... but his mother had merely shaken her head and covered her face with both hands.

He would never forget the words that had been said to him that day.

_"Is that so?"_ she'd demanded, looking at him with tearful eyes while Misty, and two of his other friends, Traci and Melody, stood watching. "_Well, I could have lost **my** whole world! Every day I worry about you, and wonder if you're all right! I know I can't stop you from doing the things you need to do... but at the same time, I can't help missing you and worrying about you! You're a Pokemon trainer, and that's just how it is... but next time, could you try and save the world just a little closer to home?_"

_"I..."_ Ash had murmured._ "I guess I could give it a try..."_

_"I'm glad..."_ she'd sighed, smiling at him with relief in her eyes._ "And remember... every day, you're my hero."_

That day was the last time Delia had been upset by anything until the issue with Entei kidnapping her had happened a year later.

Because of those incidents, he'd fully realized for the first time just how much his mother worried about him.

Ash looked up from his Pokedex when Brock glanced at the tray of food in surprise; then he scratched his head.

"She didn't like it?" the Pokemon breeder asked, sounding confused. "Weird... everyone else did."

"She didn't even touch it: I slipped a napkin in her door to check if she opened it, and it was still there," Delia weakly explained, setting the tray on the counter before folding her hands and looking at the ground. "I'm... I'm starting to get worried about her. I've never seen a child act like this before... she seems to be extremely unhappy, and she won't come out of her room for anything, not even meals. This isn't normal, is it? Could she be ill?"

"No... I don't think she's sick," Brock muttered, giving the woman a somewhat pensive expression. "At least... not physically."

"What does that mean?" Delia asked, immediately wringing her hands. "It makes no sense!"

"It makes quite a bit of sense if you consider the circumstances," Brock countered, tilting his head back with a sigh. "At this point, we still only remember her as the criminal who put us through too many hardships to get along with. However, now that she's lost her memories, she doesn't know how to handle the hostility that's being directed at her: it's not so much a sickness of the body than a sickness of the soul. She can't do anything to change how we feel about all of the things she did to us... and I think she finally realized that a few days ago."

Delia's face fell and she lowered her eyes, mouth pulling into a frown... then she headed down the hall to her bedroom.

Brock sighed and set the uneaten food on the counter.

"You really think she's just upset?" Ash finally asked, scowling at his best friend. "Couldn't she be planning a new way to kidnap Pikachu?"

"I honestly don't know," the taller boy pondered, glancing at him in dismay. "If it were any other girl who was acting like this, I'd have tried to find out the reason behind it... but if I'm gonna be totally honest with you, Jessie's kinda scary for a female. Then again, she looks a lot cuter without all that makeup on. When I first saw her, I was kinda surprised by how young she looked. Her face doesn't really fit a woman in her late twenties, ya know?"

"What are you talking about?" Ash snorted, looking at him in surprise. "Mom told me that Jessie's only seventeen: she's a year _younger_ than you!"

Brock twitched and stared at him in shock.

"No way!" he snorted, quirking an eyebrow. "She can't be that young! She started chasing you _before_ you met me, and she's barely changed at all since then, right?! If what you just said is true, Ash, then Jessie would have been only fourteen years old the first time you two ever met!"

"So?" Ash muttered, going back to looking at his Pokedex. "She was wearing tons of makeup back then, too, which is why I originally thought she was the oldest person on Team Rocket. I mean, back then, James looked only a little older than _me_."

That silenced his friend, who frowned before going back to the dishes.

Later that night, however, after everyone was fast asleep... the door to Jessica's room opened and she silently slid out into the hall. Her long hair had been pinned up on top of her head as tightly as she could manage, and she was wearing the two-piece dress that Professor Oak had given her. On her shoulder was the bag that she'd arrived with, and on her head was the sunhat that the man had plopped on top of her. Indigo eyes full of depression, the redhead straightened her collar and swallowed before shutting the door.

However, the sight of Ash standing behind it with Pikachu growling on his shoulder nearly made her heart stop.

"Going somewhere?" the boy asked, glancing at her bag with narrowed eyes. "So, what exactly are you planning, Rocket?"

"I'm just going for a walk," Jessica stammered, face awkwardly twitching as she forced the lie out of her mouth; her stomach churned when he narrowed his eyes, and her eyes started stinging. She slowly squeezed the strap on her bag, trying to keep it up. "I... I... I mean... I'm..."

"Stop lying!" Ash instantly snapped, startling the girl by storming forward and clamping his hands down on her arms; his grip was tightened so much that it quickly started hurting. "Just stop trying to pretend! Admit it! You didn't lose your memories, did you?! I know what you're up to... you're plotting against me! You think that by gaining my mother's affections you'll be able to steal Pikachu!"

Jessica froze like a statue when Delia sleepily poked her head out of her room, followed by a disheveled-looking Dawn and Brock.

"No... you're wrong," the girl choked out, mouth tightening in horror. "You're wrong! I'm not a bad person!"

"Liar! If that's the truth, where were you going?!" the boy shouted, pointing a finger right at her. "I'm not stupid! You were probably gonna report back to your sleazy Rocket friends, weren't you?! Is that it?! Huh?! Were you gonna go and hatch your latest scheme?!"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Jessica frantically shouted, flailing her arms. "I have no memories, you jerk! I'm not lying!"

"Stop it!" Ash finally spat, shoving the girl so hard that she hit the floor and scraped her hand against the wall; then he froze and blinked, since she looked at the bleeding cut before regarding him with a terrified expression on her face. However, after a moment, he frowned. "As far as I see it, you're not welcome here... and you're sure as _hell_ not gonna be my sister, even if my _mom_ says you are! Just… just… get out of here! Get out of here and disappear!"

Something in the girl's expression cracked at the command... very much like a mirror.

Ash instantly froze and an uneasy sense of fright swept through his heart like ice when he saw the expression in her eyes: he didn't know why, but he had a feeling that he had just said something very wrong... something that might have tied to Jessica's past, even if she really couldn't remember it. That's when it hit him: he had been expecting to see her eyes sharpen dangerously... but instead, he was seeing the opposite.

"Disappear?" Jessica asked softly, slowly getting to her feet. "So, all along, you wanted me to… disappear?"

"Well, kinda, but... I mean..." Ash muttered, looking confused and uncomfortable. "I didn't mean it literally."

"Disappear…" the redhead repeated, shoulders sagging as her round blue eyes went blank. "So that's it... I get it now."

"Get what?" Ash hesitantly asked, watching as she slowly trudged past him and walked towards the kitchen. "Jessie?"

She froze midstep.

"Stop calling me Jessie," she stated in a weak tone of voice. "Okay?"

"Why?" Ash snorted, staring at her with an askance expression. "Isn't that your name?"

In an instant, she whirled around stomped right back towards him, leaning close to his face: his eyes widened and he leaned backwards.

Pikachu growled, but the girl didn't falter.

"No, it's not my name!" she snapped, brows furrowed and eyes full of tears. "My name is Jessica! Everyone keeps saying 'Jessie this' and 'Jessie that,' but Jessie isn't here anymore! I _am not_ the girl that everyone hated! You said you want Jessie to disappear, right? Well, sadly, you already got that wish about three weeks ago: my name is Jessica Rougette, not the nefarious 'Jessie' you think is so horrible!"

"Are you crazy?" Ash bluntly asked, making Delia gasp behind him. "You don't seem sane, even compared to how you used to be."

"Well, excuse me for being confused about things I can't even _remember_!_"_ Jessica retorted, glaring at him with an angry expression. "Just leave me alone!"

However, before anyone could say another word, Pikachu growled again and leapt on her chest: the girl instantly let out a shriek as the events from from the previous week came to mind, and she immediately flailed her arms. Pupils dilating, the girl hastily grabbed the electric Pokemon around the middle and threw it off of her before whirling around and bolting for the back door. She stepped on Mr. Mime, who had fallen asleep in front of it, as she was passing... but despite the Pokemon's squawk of surprise, she ran outside.

"Jessica, stop!" Delia cried, bolting after her in hysteria when she darted through the front gate and sprinted down the Southern road. "Come back!"

"Leave me alone" the redhead shrieked, hat being blown off her head and long hair slipping out of its bun as she sprinted away. "I can't stay here anymore!"

By the time the woman made it to the gate, the former criminal was already too far to chase after her.

"Brock!" the woman shouted, sinking to her knees and covering her face. "Call Professor Oak! Tell him that Jessie ran away and we need help looking for her!"

"MOM?!" Ash shouted, looking totally stunned by the command. "Why?! Isn't it better like this?!"

There was no answer other than the autumn leaves sweeping emptily across the street... and when his mother turned, Ash's face went pale.

She looked close to crying.

"Ash... listen, darling: she really has no memories," Delia stated carefully, giving him a serious expression. "This isn't your fault, and I know that you're having difficulty believing this, but it's the truth: she really doesn't know anything about who she used to be. When the doctor came to re-stitch her wounds, he confirmed it by giving her a test using a Hypno. She was put into a trance... and when the doctor told her to tell him everything she could about her past, she said only one word: _'nothingness.'_ We did this test three times with the same result. She doesn't remember a thing!"

"No way..." Ash stammered, face draining of color; he abruptly remembered how Misty herself had once been forced to act like a Seel because of a Hypno and felt his heart growing cold. "Really? She really doesn't remember anything?!"

"Yes, and that's exactly why we have to find her as quickly as possible!" Delia exclaimed, worriedly pressing a hand against her chest and hastily climbing back to her feet. "Oh, no... she took the southern road! Ash, we have to find her, quickly! Before she gets hurt!"

"What?_ Hurt?"_ the boy asked, looking extremely alarmed; Dawn instantly jogged out and stood next to him, seeming confused. "What do you mean by _hurt?"_

"Ash, multiple flocks of Spearow have taken to nesting along that road!" Delia cried, turning around with a frantic expression. "Those horrible birds have been attacking people so often lately that Officer Jenny issued a warning last month that the southern road is too dangerous to travel along without a Pokemon!"

Dawn looked confused, but both Ash and Brock paled to the point of translucency. The dark-skinned boy instantly bolted to the video phone and started dialing Professor Oak's home number. Ash merely whirled around, ran over to Pikachu, and scooped him up as memories of the first time he'd ever gotten his best friend surged back into his mind. Then, after tearing into the house and grabbing his shoes and cap, the boy took off past his mother and sprinted down the road at top speed, still in his Pajamas.

Pikachu looked extremely confused until he glanced down with nervous eyes.

"We were wrong, Buddy," he mumbled, rubbing the Pokemon's ears. "Jessie might not be a bad guy anymore."

"Pika?" the Pokemon squeaked, cocking its head; it seemed to comprehend the statement, especially considering how it's ears flattened somewhat. "Pika-pi?"

"Look, do you remember the first time we ever got into a big scrape with all of those Spearow?" Ash sighed, nodding worriedly when the Pokemon's ears shot up and it stared at him in alarm. "Jessie might end up getting herself in the same kind of trouble, so let's find her!"

Almost instantly, Pikachu leapt out of his arms and started running beside him, skittering down the road of his own accord.

Meanwhile, Jessie was much farther down the road and still going, but now she was feeling worried since she had no clue where she was.

"I should have brought a map," she panted, looking around at all of the dark trees as she ran. "I have no idea where I'm going!"

As she was running, she squinted ahead of her to see where she was going, but it was so dark that she couldn't catch a glimpse of anything.

Then, out of nowhere, a bolt of lightning streaked across the sky with a blinding flash and a deafening bang: it startled her so badly that she jumped and looked up, not paying attention to what was in front of her. Just as small, barely-felt drops of rain began to fall all around her, the girl tripped over something soft and stumbled forward with a gasp of surprise.

"What the—?" Jessica squeaked, waving her arms as she tried to catch her balance. "Oh, no! EEP!"

She landed hard on her stomach, effectively knocking the wind out of herself and causing bright stars to explode behind her eyes.

When her sight returned, the world around her spun sickeningly as she heaved for air, trying to get breath back into her empty lungs.

"Ow…" the redhead wheezed, sitting up and weakly catching her wind. "What did I just trip over...? It wasn't a rock... that much is obvious."

However, when the girl looked over her shoulder, she spotted a small bird-like creature fluttering its wings with its face stuck in a hole below ground.

Letting out a gasp of horror, Jessica instantly crawled over to the ensnared creature and gently grabbed it around the middle despite its flailing legs. Then, after gently widening the hole it had gotten stuck in using her fingers, she tugged and the creature came free with a squawk. Jessie fell on her backside and blinked when another bolt of lightning flashed overhead, illuminating a fierce set of eyes that swiveled around and locked on her face. She blinked when she noticed that the creature had gone still and seemed to be glaring.

Then, before she could react, its beak shot out and clamped down on her finger.

"AAAAAH! OW!" Jessica shrieked, jerking her hand back in pain and dropping the creature to the ground; however, she yelped when it leapt at her, wings flapping madly and beak gnashing at her hair in another attempt to bite her. "EEK! No! No! Get away from me, you awful little thing!"

"Speearow!" it cawed, flapping all around her face. "Speearow!"

"Get off!" the girl shouted, flailing her arms; when her hand smacked its head and it flew back a few feet, the girl thought it was over and held her finger up with teary eyes: she was bleeding where it had bit her, and it still really hurt. "Ow..."

However, her worries were far from over, since she'd hit the Pokemon on the head and left a welt.

"SPEAAAAROW!" the creature practically screeched, making the girl jump in surprise. "SPEEEEAROW!"

Just like that, another bolt of lightning illuminated hundreds of black forms flying out of the trees. The girl froze like a statue when she saw a flocks of nearly identical birds flapping in the air above her. She blinked several times to make she she wasn't seeing things, and she even rubbed her eyes, but her mouth fell open in disbelief when she realized that she wasn't actually having an odd hallucination.

The Pokemon above her all looked angry.

"Uh-oh..." Jessica whined, slowly crawling to her feet and hesitantly trying to back away without enraging them any further. "Um, nice birdies... please don't be mad at me! I helped your friend, so... um..."

Before she could finish, they all dive-bombed her.

Jessie ducked and lifted both of her arms up to cover her head, but she couldn't keep herself from letting out a shriek when one of the Spearows used its beak to slice her arm open. Blood began spilling down her pale skin when the Pokemon flew back up into the air. Letting out a scream, the girl darted away with the flying creatures hot on her tail. The trees and attacking birds had her zigzagging in a dizzying manner, and she tripped more than once over the exposed roots lying across the ground, but she didn't care: she was too busy trying to keep from being sliced to pieces to worry about where she was going.

"Help!" Jessica wailed, jumping over a log and ducking under a branch. "Help! Someone, help me!"

However, that's when she heard the twig snapping behind her as one of the Pokemon dive-bombed her.

Only a split second before it speared her, she ducked and it shredded past her cheek, tearing out a few strands of her long hair. The redhead shrieked, whirled around with a screech of terror, and bolted in an unseen direction; it had started raining sometime during the time she was being attacked, which made it only that much harder for her to see anything. Every Pokemon that attacked somehow sailed past without harming her much, but Jessica was so terrified that she didn't dare to stop running.

"Help!" Jessica breathlessly cried, yelping when a Spearow tore a branch off a tree just beside her head. "Help me help me help me help me!"

The redhead started gasping for air when the sound of more screeching Spearow came from behind her.

She squeaked when one of them scraped the ground right next to her left ankle and stumbled when another grazed her right shoulder. In all honesty, she was simply lucky that it was hard to see: it meant that they couldn't see her very well, either. However, her good luck came to an end when she stumbled through a clearing... because she only saw the edge of the cliff just as she was about to go over it. The skinny redhead skidded to a halt just before she tumbled off the ledge, toes poking over the edge of the chasm as she frantically windmilled her arms. She felt her heart lurching and shrieked as she fought to keep her balance, struggling to avoid falling into the frothing lake resting thirty feet below.

She finally managed to throw herself backwards and clutched her chest, sopping wet from the rain and breathing hard.

"EHHH?!" Jessica whimpered, eyes widening in horror. "No way! This isn't happening!"

"SPEAROW!" a Pokemon cried, and when Jessie jerked her head around, she saw the dark silhouettes of pursuers high in the air; more cries filled the air all around, making the girl's face turn pale. "SPEEEEEAROW!"

The redhead scrambled to her feet and backed away from them with large eyes, but when her heel brushed against the edge of the cliff and sent some rocks falling out into the open air, she was once again reminded that she was trapped.

Her heart skipped a beat when she saw them dive.

Then they were all soaring at her in a wave of living fury.

"SOMEBODY! HELP ME!" Jessica screeched, covering her face with both hands; five seconds before the Spearow landed the attacks, and two seconds after she screamed for help, a bolt of brilliant yellow lightning came roaring down from the clouds like a message from a higher power. Jessica's eyes widened when the Spearow were all shocked by the blinding electricity, watching as they screeched and flew away.

For several moments after they were gone, Jessica stood where she was, soaking wet and shivering violently.

Then a familiar boy wearing a weathered red and white cap came into view, donned in his pale green Pajamas.

"Ash!" Jessie cried, stumbling forward with enormous eyes. "Ash!"

"I didn't do that for you, and neither did Pikachu!" the boy snapped, disturbed by how she stumbled forward. "Stay away from us!"

However, the boy froze when she flung her arms around his torso and pulled him into a hug: he stared over her shoulder with wide, confused eyes.

Then she started crying, making the boy flail his arms.

"That was so scary!" Jessica bawled, hiccuping as she cried. "I thought I was gonna die!"

"What are you doing?" he shouted, struggling to get free with little result. "Let go of me, you weirdo! LET GO!"

Without warning, Pikachu zapped her shoulder with a flash of yellow light.

"OW!" Jessica yelped, leaping away and holding her stinging arm. "Why do you keep shocking me?!"

However, when the girl stepped back, the boy's doe brown eyes flicked to the ground and went wide.

"Stop!" Ash cried, hurrying forward with an outstretched hand. "Don't move!"

"Why should I?" the girl snapped, gripping her backpack from where it had fallen. "So you can have your Pokemon try to shock me—eeeeEEEEYAAAAAH!"

Jessica's question devolved into a startled shriek when the muddy earth she was standing on suddenly caved in beneath her.

Her water-soaked clothes reversed gravity as her footing vanished: her long hair began to fan around her body as the world began to blur, tilting upright just as a ringing silence dominated the girl's mind. Jessica stared at the black, stormy sky with stunned indigo eyes—hand outstretched to where she had just been standing only a second before. The image of her bag falling onto the muddy cliff above and Ash stretching out his hand with a horrified expression was the last thing she saw before her body slammed into the turbulent lake.

She slammed into the water headfirst and nearly knocked herself unconscious: she instantly tried to take a breath of air, which only caused a large amount of water to flood her nostrils and choke her. Blue eyes frantic, she flailed around as her chest began to burn: water clouded her vision as she struggled to move, flailing her arms. Black spots began to impede on her vision, and a soundless scream, accompanied by a column of bubbles, escaped from her mouth. She glanced toward the surface and struggled to swim to it, but she only seemed to be making herself sink farther down.

She didn't know how to swim.

Her lungs burned and her eyes stung as she wondered if she was going to die.

The choking liquid pressed in on Jessica from all sides, making her movements sluggish as she struggled to swim up to the surface. Her chest was burning and she was desperate for air... but she was too weak to find the surface, and her struggles slowly began to grow weaker. Darkening spots flashed in front of her eyes, making it hard to see anything.

Finally, she stopped struggling altogether.

Jessica slowly began to sink underwater, arms stretched out toward the rippling surface as her energy dissolved. As she faced the black sky that was so close and yet so far away, her long auburn hair swirled around her pale face and flashed like a mirror as it drifted in front of her face. Staring at the flickering shafts of light with hazed indigo eyes, she watched as the faint rippling above her grew dimmer, fading by the second.

_Why is it so cold?_ Jessica vaguely wondered, staring at the rippling darkness as she drifted in and out of consciousness. _Where am I…? Who… am I? Am I underwater, or is this just a dream?_

Just as she was about to close her eyes and succumb to the pressure of the darkness enfolding her, she saw a disturbance in the water above her.

Then... a glowing blue light filled the darkness around her and she was abruptly engulfed in radiance.

Eyes fluttering a little, the redhead vaguely spotted a similarly glowing silhouette reaching out to her with two three-fingered limbs. The distant, shadowy figure had large, brilliantly glowing eyes that only seemed to grow bigger and brighter until they were practically right in front of her own. However, before she could react to the sight of such a shocking entity, a painful amount of pressure smashed against her stomach and she was suddenly being dragged through the darkness. Her long hair slid across her shoulders and billowed in front of her face as water went rushing up her nose. Her head lolled when the pressure jerked her in another direction, and it was only then that she realized that something soft and warm had gripped her around the middle.

_What is this...?_ the girl wondered, seeing spots as she touched the pale pink fur resting in front of her nose; when her eyes flicked up, her fading mind vaguely made out an extremely long and curvacious tail that was attached to a set of oddly-shaped limbs. _What is this thing...?_

After a moment, her hazed mind started going dark as the spots filled her being, and she slowly closed her eyes.

Then her head broke the surface.

Her eyes flew back open and the spots slowly dissolved as she took a deep, ragged, painful, and absolutely wonderful breath of air. However, she yipped when the pressure jerked her to the side, cracking her ribcage with the force of the tug. Then she was being pulled into the air... and before she even realized what was going on, she was flying, and the lake was fading away. However, only thirty seconds later, she hit the ground again: Jessica coughed and choked violently, mind swirling around as she forced the water on top of her lungs.

Then she felt something tightening around her middle and weakly glanced down, fighting to stay awake.

She was startled to see an extremely large, odd-looking creature literally clinging to her body.

It's eyes were closed, though, and she couldn't really tell if it was awake or asleep.

She blinked with glazed eyes at the ridge that extended from the back of its head before curving down to its spine: beneath that area was an open space. On top of the creatures head was a pair of ears that had an odd shape. They were distinctly rounded, and Jessie was rather baffled by how they looked since she couldn't really discern where the spots to hear things with really were. Then there was its face... she could see a small, felinoid mouth and a nose at the end of a a white, furry muzzle.

Jessica's water-logged red hair stuck to the back of her body as she lay there on her back, indigo eyes dimming with exhaustion as she stared at the odd creature with flickering vision. After looking up at the sky, the small girl realized that it was still raining, but everything had brightened with the onset of morning. Still coughing and spluttering, Jessica struggled to move her leaden body, but the creature's bony arms merely tightened a little on her waist and it's head shifted against the front of her dress.

As far as she could tell, it seemed to be unconscious.

With her clothes soaked, skin cold, and morning coming on soon, she didn't know what to do. The redhead was too tired and fatigued to get up and find shelter or help, but there was no breeze blowing through the trees so she knew she shouldn't have feared getting sick for the moment.

_I'll just rest here for a little, _she thought silently, eyes fluttering closed. _The creature sleeping on me is warm... so..._ _I'll just rest for a little while..._

However, only a second later she was asleep.

And lying on top of her... was a severely injured Mewtwo.


	7. Chapter 6: Second Born

**Chapter Six: Second Born**

Darkness... pain... and the smell of copper.

Aside from the rare moments when he was dragged out of his prison to battle other creatures, those three elements were the center of his world. Even though his heart was always beating a mile a minute, the blood that had continuously dried on his fur flaked off much more slowly. And as he waited in the darkness for one of the humans to return, he knew all the while that there would never be a way for him to escape. The man who had imprisoned him had done this several years ago as a way of making him take responsibility for his brother's actions.

His brother - The Original, as he was commonly referred to - had destroyed this same facility many years ago and escaped from it.

He wanted nothing more than to do what his elder brother had done and get away from this place. The Original had always been so strong... and he hadn't been shocked to find that the firstborn had managed to escape on his own power. After his own initial birth, he had often been held by three-fingered paws that mirrored his own. Ever since the moment he had first opened his eyes, the Original's silent voice had always told him the pain would not be eternal

Over and over again, those arms would hold him and the Original would tell him stories of other creatures... real creatures, not created from another life's DNA. They were, after all, nothing but clones... but he, as the Original had always told him, could not even be called _that_ because he was nothing more than a copy of a clone.

A copy of _him_.

That, you see, was the painful truth: in reality, he was nothing more than a clone of The Original, who was _also_ a clone. Ironically, his name was only a metaphor: he should have been named 'Mewthree' since Giovanni had cloned him from a clone, but no... to everyone who had ever set eyes on him, he was known only as Mewtwo, the Second Born... and unlike his elder brother, he was weaker both in body and mind.

A shadow, born from a shadow.

However, his brother had been angered so deeply by the fact that they were nothing but test subjects that he had freed himself.

That same brother... the one who had always been there... had left him behind.

Without a second thought.

Until that moment, he had looked up to his sibling, even though they were merely reflections of each other.

Because that was exactly what he was: he was nothing but a reflection of the original Mewtwo... a living, breathing reflection.

And yet, until this last battle with 'The Girl'... he had never once questioned his painful existence among those who had continuously hurt him. Her memories held within them something more than just pain: despite her shattered dreams, she'd found the will to keep going... and after witnessing that, his half life... his _false_ life... had somehow been shaken to its core.

Then again, it was mostly because of her that he was in this situation.

He had been put through so much emotional agony after experiencing her hidden torments that it had clouded his judgement, and because of that, he had completely erased her memories without thinking twice. He had been punished gravely for it, too... his wounds still stung and bled, and he'd been locked up with no food or water for a very long time. Even worse, the memories he had tried to escape from were still haunting him... making him feel as though the child with the rose-colored hair was now the same being as himself.

He had shouldered the burden of her entire life without wanting it: he wanted nothing more than to give it back.

Because now, the same memories that had once destroyed an unloved little girl were eating away at him from the inside out.

When a distant door opened up and the blinding light fell across his starving, bloodied form, he cringed against the wall with a terrified shiver and his tail violently lashed against the ground: the pale pink-and-violet fur that had once covered his body was congealed with dried blood. His three-digit paws clenched weakly before going limp above his head, ears flattening down on his skull. The moment Giovanni's silhouette fell across his battered body, he knew the punishment was going to come again.

Just like all the other times, there would be no mercy... no one could save him from his fate. There would be no reprieve of the pain.

He was doomed to be chained to this wall by his neck, arms, and tail for eternity... and it was going to be an Eternity full of everlasting darkness.

"Mewtwo," the leader of team rocket growled, stepping forward with cold brown eyes. "I'm sure you know why I'm here."

He closed his eyes and turned his face away without making a sound, forcing his body to remain still when the human's silhouette drew closer. Even with his teal eyes squeezed so tightly shut, he could _feel_ the coldness that had always been present in the human before him. If he was lucky, Giovanni would order someone to beat him senseless until he got bored: after that, he would leave and he'd be in the darkness once more.

Today, however, something was different.

He could tell by the way the human was breathing that there was something strange about him. He struggled to lift his head, but he couldn't manage it and his chains clinked as he went limp with his failure. He wanted to see why the man was breathing so raggedly... wanted to see why it sounded as though there were others with him. Yet, at the same time, he really didn't want to see anything at all just in case it was a new form of torture: he wanted to be like his brother, the Original, who had escaped so easily.

"Are you listening to me?!" the man demanded, bending down and gripping the psychic Pokemon's throat; Mewtwo's head lolled limply when Giovanni jerked him forward and forced his large teal eyes to focus on his face. "I've been having a serious problem with your attitude lately."

_My demeanor is as you see because I am too weak to do much else,_ the Pokemon telepathically retorted, trying to hide his misery; he kept an even gaze focused on the man in front of him. _It is no fault of mine._

Giovanni instantly backhanded the Pokemon, making him flinch and cower against the wall with averted eyes: his tail was curling itself into knots and his ears were flat against his skull. However, he didn't look afraid: merely tired and in pain. After all, he'd gone through this kind of treatment since the day he'd been born, so he'd never really been able to experience anything aside from it.

That is, until the day he'd fought against the child with the rose-colored hair.

"Don't mock me," the man sneered, eyes flashing with irritation. "After all, I hold your life within my palms. You are proving yourself to be worthless to me, and I don't uphold that kind of failure for very long. Not only have you been losing every match against the other Pokemon, but the ONE TIME you _managed_ to win a battle was because you were pitted against a defenseless teenage girl. Not to mention your actions caused some highly irreparable issues. I told you to _finish_ that girl by knocking her unconscious: you weren't supposed to erase her memories."

_You clearly told me you would not care how I finished the match, as long as I did it right then,_ the Pokemon weakly retorted, teal eyes closing as a wave of dizziness swamped him. _I merely did the one thing that came to mind._

"I see," Giovanni muttered, glancing at his Persian when it walked up with a syringe in its mouth; Mewtwo glanced at it when Giovanni when he pulled a small bottle out of his jacket pocket and stuck the needle into it. The Pokemon watched as a bronze liquid filled the medical tool, then blinked when it was squirted it into the air. "Since I have deemed you to be useless, I've decided that for the benefit of Team Rocket, I'm going to put you down to save money."

The Pokemon's ears shot straight up and it's teal eyes sharpened when the man put the bottle back into his pocket.

_You intend to take my life? _Mewtwo demanded, eyes burning with something unfathomable. _What right do you have to my existence?_

"I own you: that is all I need to do with you as I desire," Giovanni sneered, lifting the syringe and tightening the needle before glaring at him. "Sleep well, Mewtwo: you were a rather pathetic clone, but I plan on making another one using the DNA from your corpse, so don't feel too bad about failing so many times. You were only an experiment, after all."

Something inside the Pokemon's mind went out like a light upon hearing those words.

And when Giovanni and made as though he were going to stick the instrument of death into his body, Mewtwo's round teal eyes began glowing bright blue and the man suddenly froze in place. His slanted brown eyes widened as his limbs jolted to an unwilling halt, held in place by a brilliant blue aura: then the chains holding Mewtwo snapped under the telekinetic pressure he was exuding, and the Pokemon rose into the air. Lifting a bloodied paw, the psychic blasted the Rocket leader into the wall.

_Experiment or not,_ a telepathic voice whispered, full of calm anguish, _my life is not yours... and I will fight you in order to keep it._

With that, the Pokemon generated as much psychic power as he could and exploded into the air, tearing through the ceiling and roaring up into the sky.

Mewtwo flinched and abruptly squeezed his glowing eyes shut when he flew up into the raining nighttime air: he had been chained in the dark for so long that it nearly blinded him just being out in the open like this. Behind him, an explosion lit up the earth... but he was so weak and tired that he could barely focus long enough to keep going, let alone glance behind him to see what had just occurred. He needed to get away, and if he could manage to get out of sight, he could rest in the clouds.

He heard several thunderous cracks echoing around him as he fled, and several times he was blinded by brilliant flashes of light that streaked across the sky; the wind made it hard for him to keep going, and it only exhausted him even further than he already was. Mewtwo didn't know how long he flew for, nor did he care anymore: he had somehow freed himself like his brother had, and he was going to take advantage of the situation. Then again, with all of the flashes going on around him, he could barely see anything.

On top of that, his exhaustion was so great that he couldn't even fly straight anymore.

Soon, instead of flying... she was falling.

The wind whipped across his bloodied fur as he flipped towards a sparkling lake that lay far below, plummeting towards his death; as he fell through the clouds and a forest of many colors came into view, the aura surrounding his body dissolved with a sparkling blue twinkle and he closed his teal eyes. He was so tired that he didn't even care if he died anymore: he just wanted to go to sleep and not be in pain. The air whipped around his form form as he flipped towards water, limbs limp and tail flying... the lake was looming closer and closer. That surface was where he would die... and if the impact didn't kill him, he would definitely drown there.

Then... a flash of rose red met his gaze.

His eyes opened and he stared through the spiraling world as a familiar color broke through his daze.

Rose red... familiar, but only just.

Then he saw the rest: pale skin, large blue eyes, long hair the color of roses.

A girl falling into the lake he himself was about to die in.

His eyes flashed open wide and started glowing once again in recognition.

Flipping out of his death-tumble and using up the last of his strength, the Pokemon's eyes flashed and he sped towards the redheaded girl who had just fallen off the edge of a crumbling cliff and plummeted into the frothing lake. Letting his instincts take over, Mewtwo roared towards the only familiar thing his mind had to latch onto and smashed clean into the surface without slowing down. The water drowned out all sound as he dove beneath the waves, eyes flashing this way and that.

Then he spotted a fiery tendril and the water around him exploded as he propelled himself towards his target. He stretched his paws out in preparation to latch onto her: he wanted to removed the burden of her pain before he died... and he was going to do so, no matter the result. He descended through the icy liquid, planning to return what he had stolen... but just before he did so, she opened her eyes.

And looked right at him.

Her eyes were no longer the same as they'd been when he'd fought her.

They were no longer narrowed into a perpetual glare... nor did they have the cold iciness he'd seen in her memories.

Her eyes were round, frightened, and full of pain... very much like his own must have been in that moment.

But above all... they were innocent.

Then he remembered where he was and propelled himself forward, wrapping his shaking upper limbs around the only familiar thing that had breached the painful haze of his existence. Without a second thought, he shot towards the surface and broke through into the air: the girl resting across his shoulder had started coughing violently when he flew into the air again... but just before they could get going, his eyes rolled and he lost his concentration.

The glow surrounding them winked out soon after, and when they fell back to the ground, he landed heavily on top of her. Tasting blood, the Pokemon's wrapped his limbs around her middle in a vain attempt to keep her from going anywhere, but then his mind went dark and he fainted, still clinging to the last bit of familiarity he had left with shaking paws.

_Then something happened... and all of a sudden, he was hovering in a world of darkness._

_In front of him was the child with the rose-colored hair... but she was facing away from him and looking around, seemingly just as confused. _

_However... then she turned around, and she froze, eyes locking with his._

_"Who are you?" she asked, sounding extremely confused. "Where are we?"_

_The Pokemon merely stared, then warily glanced around: below his feet was darkness, and as far as he could tell, nothing was keeping him grounded. In other words, he seemed to be doing nothing but floating, so he cautiously made his way forward and approached the redhead, who looked extremely nervous and confused. She was shivering violently and hugging herself as her eyes flashed around._

_'I do not know where we are...' he finally replied, halting directly in front of her; when she glanced at him with a start, he narrowed his eyes and lifted a paw. She shuddered violently and let out a fearful whine when he merely touched her lightened hair in curiosity. 'Are you the child with Rose-colored hair?'_

_"Huh?" the girl asked blankly, staring at him in confusion. "I... don't know. I mean, my hair was close to that color when I first woke up in the hospital, but the dye wore off since I didn't really see a point in keeping my appearance the same as before."_

_The Pokemon merely narrowed its eyes even further... then slowly pressed a finger against her forehead._

_For a moment, nothing happened... but then an unexpected electrical shock abruptly went through both of them, and a blue Aura sparked out of the creature's digit. Mewtwo and Jessica both let out individual screams, one silent and one not, as something within their consciousnesses unexpectedly fused together. Another accident that had been caused by the Pokemon's ill training: when he jerked away, a blanket of thought and emotion had enfolded his own, and the same had unexpectedly become true of Jessica._

_The redhead and the Pokemon stared at each other with large eyes._

_"Uh-oh..." two completely different voices stated simultaneously._

_"What did you just do to me?!" Jessie whispered, sinking to her knees with blank blue eyes. "I... I feel like something's inside my head! What did you do?!"_

_'I... do not know...'_ _the Pokemon calmly admitted, sourly turning away and folding its arms with a glare_. _'I will find a way to fix it once we manage to free ourselves of this shadowy place. I ill like the sensation of the air around us: it feels as if there is no air at all, which I personally think is quite uncomfortable.'_

_"You sure have a weird way of using words," Jessica muttered, then twitched when the Pokemon turned a dark glare on her. "Sorry! I didn't mean it in a bad way!"_

_Before he could retort, another shock zapped both of them, and a distant coin of light opened up in the air high above them. _

_The two glanced at each other in alarm as two tendrils of light swam down and ensnared them... but then, they were jerked upwards towards light and sound._

_Muffled voices began to make sense_ _in their ears_... _no... Jessica's ears?_

_'Who am I, again?' _the girl wondered, swimming out of unconsciousness as the pressure of two arms shaking her met her awareness. _'Me or...?'_

"JESSICA!" a muffled female voice cried, rapidly becoming clearer; the girl's glazed indigo eyes slowly opened halfway and she stared at the bright blue sky above her with a confused demeanor. "JESSICA! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!"

"I-is she gonna be okay?" Dawn's voice hesitantly stammered. "She's so... white! And that thing is clinging to her!"

"I don't even have any idea what kind of Pokemon that is," Professor Oak's voice murmured, sounding thoroughly intrigued. "In all my years as a professor, I have never once seen such an astounding subject! Where do you think it came from? And more importantly, why do you think it won't let go of Jessie?"

"I don't know, but the way it's looking at us kind of makes me not want to go anywhere near her," Ash nervously chuckled. "My mom's got some guts!"

"JESSICAAAA!" the woman cried, patting the dazed redhead's cheek; around that moment, her eyes fluttered a little wider and she turned her sodden head to find the face of a nearly-crying brunette looking down at her. Her eyes were large and she appeared frantic. "WAKE UP! WAKE UP!"

"Mrs... Ketch'um...?" the girl croaked, voice coming out extremely sore. "What happened?"

"Oh, thank God!" the woman whispered, leaning down and embracing the girl with a shuddering sigh. "You're all right..."

"Huh?" Jessica groggily asked, not really comprehending what was going on. "What...?"

Before she could react, the woman abruptly shoved herself upright and started glaring clean deep into Jessie's eyes with a fury rarely seen.

Ash instantly swallowed and averted his own eyes with a shiver.

"YOUNG LADY, YOU ARE GROUNDED FOR A MONTH!" she shrieked, shaking the girl's shoulders back and forth. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, RUNNING OFF LIKE THAT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT?! DON'T YOU KNOW HOW DANGEROUS IT IS?! WHEN ASH CAME RUNNING BACK AND TOLD ME THAT YOU'D FALLEN OFF A CLIFF INTO THE LAKE, I NEARLY HAD A HEART ATTACK! DON'T EVER, AND I DO MEAN **EVER,** TRY TO RUN AWAY FROM HOME AGAIN! **EVEEEEEER!"**

Jessica had clamped up after the first shriek and shrunk down into her own shoulders, eyes wider than dinner plates and mouth pulled taught.

Nobody blamed her, either, even though Brock and Dawn started sniggering at the former criminal's expression.

It was priceless: she looked three percent startled and one hundred percent Squirtle, what with how she'd shrunk into her own neck.

"Are we clear, young lady?" Delia demanded in a low tone, giving her an intense expression. "Or do I need to make that grounding a year?"

Jessica immediately nodded the confirmation that she understood, eyes still bugging out of her head.

"Good," Delia sighed, smiling at the girl with the same countenance as before; if possible, the redhead's eyes widened even further. "I'm glad we agree."

"Um, Ash...?" Dawn whispered, staring at Delia's grin with a fair amount of shock. "Remind me never to make your mother angry. She's scary."

"Why do you think I'm always trying to be good around her?" the black-haired boy whispered back, shuddering violently and glancing at the tree that Pikachu had chosen to hide behind. "Let's just say that I haven't done anything wrong since I was about... say, five."

"AND YOU!" Delia shrieked, making the boy's eyes widen in a manner similar to Jessica's; he instantly faced forward and his head shrunk down on his shoulders in a manner that was almost identical to the way Jessica's had. "YOU, MISTER, ARE GOING TO APOLOGIZE! RIGHT NOW!"

"Y-y-y-y-y-y-yes'm!" Ash squeaked, hastily darting around his seething mother and looking at Jessie's stricken face. "S-s-s-s-s-sorry for lashing out at you!"

"AAAAAND?!" Delia thundered, seeming to blot out the entire sky with her anger; Ash AND Jessica quailed beneath it, and everyone else ran for their own trees to hide behind with due haste. "WHAT ELSE?! ISN'T THERE SOMETHING ELSE YOU'D LIKE TO APOLOGIZE FOR?! WELL, ASH?!"

"Y-y-yes!" the boy whimpered, feeling smaller than a bug Pokemon under his mother's gaze. "I-I-I-I-I-I'm also very sorry for how I've been treating you ever since you arrived, and... and I know your memories are really gone now! I'm sorry for accusing you and everything!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAND?!" the woman practically roared, instantly blotting out the sun. "SAY IT!"

"A-a-a-a-a-and, I wouldn't mind having you as a sisterrrrheherherheeeeer!" Ash wailed, bursting into terrified tears. "I'm sorry, Jessie... I mean, _Jessica!_ JESSICA! I'm sorry, JESSICA!"

Delia suddenly returned to normal and primly folded her hands, giving them a happy nod.

"Wonderful," she sighed, dreamily putting a hand over her mouth and smiling in delight. "My son and foster daughter, getting along at last."

The two teenagers merely shared a terrified look and gave a nod, calling an indefinite truce to the hostilities: there was no way in hell they were ever going to induce Delia's wrath over this, ever again. However, Jessie twitched when she felt two skinny arms tightening on her waist and abruptly glanced down: the creature that had rescued her was still lying in the same position as before, but now it's head was turned on its side. However, shockingly enough, its eyes were open and it was regarding everyone aside from her with hostility.

"What?" Jessica whispered, eyes widening in shock when the head turned and two teal eyes flicked up to her face. "What... what's going on?"

"That's what we'd like to know," Professor Oak explained, hesitantly giving the now-giggling Delia a wide girth as he passed her. "We've been searching for you for almost Ten hours now, and when we found you... both you, and this Pokemon, were injured and unconscious."

Jessica's eyes widened when she got a mental flash of two brilliantly glowing eyes roaring towards her beneath the waves.

Then she remembered seeing two outstretched limbs.

"It saved me..." the girl whispered blankly, looking down at the creature in shock; it met her gaze evenly, although it seemed to be glaring a bit. "This Pokemon saved my life after I fell into the water. The last thing I remember is seeing two eyes in front of my face... then I was here."

"That doesn't answer any of the questions I have," the professor sighed, shaking his head. "More importantly, why is it clinging to you like that?"

"I honestly have no clue," Jessica deadpanned, lifting her arm and gently lowering it towards the creature's head. However, the reaction was instantaneous: it immediately flinched and its ears flattened down against its skull, teal eyes squeezing shut. Everyone instantly blinked before frowning at the girl, who'd frozen with a startled expression. "Hey... hey, why did it flinch like that?"

"Well, it's obviously not scared of you," Ash snorted, scowling in confusion. "I don't know. That's kind of weird."

Pikachu, however, slowly hopped forward with flicking ears: it was staring at the battered Pokemon with intelligent brown eyes.

"Pikachu..." the electric mouse squeaked, scurrying forward before Ash could stop him. "Chu! Chu! Pikachu!"

The Mewtwo's reaction was instantaneous: eyes fixating on the yellow creature's furry face, it nodded in an intense manner.

"Pi! Pikachu!" the tiny Pokemon squeaked, eliciting another nod; this process continued, baffling the hell out of everyone present, for nearly ten minutes... but in the end, the non-understandable conversation between the two creatures fell silent and Pikachu merely stood there. Then, waddling forward, the electric Pokemon lifted a small, furry claw... and patted the larger Pokemon with a single, solemn, "Pika."

Then it's ears flicked and it scurried back over to Ash, scampering up his leg and clean onto his shoulder.

"Pika-pi!" the Pokemon squeaked, tapping the boy's cheek with both of its clawed digits. "Pikachuuu!"

The Mewtwo merely stared, but after a moment... it slowly, almost reluctantly, released its grip on Jessie's torso. Then it's body was enshrouded in a blue aura and it floated into the air before soaring over to the boy, who jumped backwards and regarded it with enormous brown eyes. Stretching out a bony arm, the Pokemon pressed its three-fingered paw against the boy's forehead.

"Professor Oak?" the boy whispered, glancing at the extremely fascinated man with fearful eyes; the professor was literally drooling after witnessing such an amazing display of Pokemon interaction, and now he was even more curious. "What do I do? What's trying to do to me?! It isn't gonna attack, right?"

"Just wait and see," the man breathed, making Brock pale and Dawn scoot away with her eyes to the clouds. "We can only watch."

_'You,' _Mewtwo stated, startling the black-haired trainer profoundly. _'As long as you are near, the child with the Rose-colored hair will not be far. Correct?'_

"Uhhhhh..." Ash whimpered, staring at it before looking at his mother. "Moooom? I'm hearing voices in my head."

"What are they saying, dear?" Delia pleasantly inquired, making Brock snicker without warning and Dawn giggle profoundly. "Please! Tell me!"

"Um, it's one voice actually," the boy croaked, glancing at the teal-eyed Pokemon with enormous eyes. "I think It's asking if I'll be hanging out with Jessica or something... honestly, it's kinda hard to make sense of it."

"Well, that is interesting!" Delia gasped, eyes lighting up. "I guess the answer would be yes: you will be hanging out with Jessica quite a bit, since you are both GROUNDED for a MONTH. Now, does this voice have any more questions?"

'_Tell the human woman that I will be staying near the child with the rose-colored hair,' _Mewtwo demanded, narrowing his eyes when the boy paled. _'Now.'_

"It says this Pokemon is going to be staying with Jessie," Ash squeaked, face paling even further. "Um, is that okay?"

"Well, since this darling creature seems to have already made up his mind," Delia giggled, making everyone's mouth fall open in shock, "of course!"

Surprisingly enough, Professor Oak immediately spoke up.

"I don't think that's a good idea," the man stammered, smiling as he inched closer to the woman with raised hands and a drop of sweat on his forehead. "Delia, we have no idea what kind of Pokemon this is, and I don't think... what on _earth_?! LOOK!_"_

The man stopped talking and everyone stared when Jessie's eyes unexpectedly started glowing blue; then her mouth opened of its own accord.

"I have unintentionally linked myself with her subconscious," Jessica stated in a startlingly calm voice. "We cannot be too far apart from each other until this mistake has been corrected: whether you accommodate me or not is entirely up to you, but I will not be leaving until we have separated ourselves."

For a long moment, nobody spoke... but then Brock stepped forward, seeming puzzled.

"Okay, so... how long will this process take?" he inquired, quirking an eyebrow as he folded his arms. "The de-merging, I mean."

The girl blinked in synchronicity with the Pokemon.

"I do not know," Jessica's mouth explained. "I am not even sure how it came to be."

With that, Jessica went limp and faces turned grim all over the place.

"It's just one thing after another, isn't it," Ash grumbled, mussing up his hair when the Pyschic creature floated back over to Jessie and sat down beside her. He twitched when his mother turned and looked at him with a happy smile, then shivered violently as an ominous aura wafted off of her. "Uhhh..."

"What was that, Ash?" Delia quipped, blinking at him with a motherly expression. "I didn't hear it."

"Nothing," he quickly squeaked, pulling his hat down over his head. "Nothing at all, really."

Ironically enough, in the end, he wasn't really afraid of Jessie.

In fact, the only real thing he was actually afraid of was his own mother.

Children be warned... a loving mother's wrath is a frightening thing to behold!

* * *

**Author's Note:** Decided to get a little creative with the cover art to motivate myself into continuing Just Like Jessie. Does anyone like? :D I really hope so, since this story started off as nothing but a passing phase that I was having trouble coming up with. First of all, I have absolutely no knowledge on ANYTHING concerning Pokemon past Pokemon Advance, and that's why... for your benefit AND my own, I've done some horribly mind-numbing BINGE marathons! YAAAAAY! I'm sure we've all had anime hang-overs, lmao. :3 Anyhoo, I've decided to continue this and turn it into another one of my big projects.

Enjoy, my fluffies! Enjoy! :D

Also, to those of you who were brought to this story from one of my other works, all I have to say is this: YES, I will be continuing ALL of my stories. ALL. OF. THEM.

Thank you. That is all.


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